[The "dialogic principle" as the force of the physician-patient relationship].

The discussion is opened with an analysis of the inherent problems of the concept of quality of life. Why must it be pressed into the straight jacket of a quantitative scheme? The second theme, the thesis that verbal contact and interviews in the doctor's office are an application of the philosophical programme of personalism and "dialogism", is also critically analyzed. Why must the physician (and the psychotherapist) aim so high? Is not the lack of symmetry between the physician and the patient typical of the verbal contact between the two? These factors are discussed, not-withstanding the valid insight that intense personal concern and contact are highly desirable in patient-oriented medicine.