Philosophical counseling

An increasingly popular application for philosophy is in counseling. It is
commonly held that so-called philosophical counseling began in 1981 when Dr.
Gerd Achenbach opened his practice near Cologne, Germany. Today there are
philosophical counselors, professional associations, and certification
programs in the Netherlands, Canada, Norway, Austria, France, Switzerland,
Israel, Great Britain, the United States, and many other countries. But the
idea that philosophy can be used to alleviate distress, help individuals
come to a better understanding of themselves and their world, and improve a
person's life dates back to antiquity.

More than two thousand years ago Epicurus characterized philosophy as
"therapy of the soul." He maintained that the arguments made by a
philosopher are just empty if they do not relieve any human suffering. The
Stoics also made it clear that philosophy is not merely the memorization of
abstract theories or the exegesis of texts, but learning the art of living
well. Socrates used philosophy not to teach concepts but to encourage his
discussion partners to examine their thinking and attitudes about almost
every issue imaginable.

Descartes and Spinoza saw philosophy as the "practice of wisdom." Nietzsche
complained that philosophy had degenerated into a boring academic pursuit.
He was waiting for a "philosopher physician" who would muster the courage
"to risk the proposition: That what was at stake in all philosophizing up to
this point was not at all truth but something else -- let us say, health,
future, growth, power, life."

One of the twentieth century's most influential philosophers, Ludwig
Wittgenstein, asked rhetorically, "What is the use of studying philosophy if
all it does for you is to enable you to talk with some plausibility about
some abstruse questions in logic, etc., and if it does not improve your
thinking about the important questions of everyday life?" John Dewey, the
highly-regarded American philosopher of education, wrote early in the 20th
century that philosophy would show its true value "only when it ceases to be
a device for dealing with the problems of philosophers and becomes a method,
cultivated by philosophers, for dealing with the problems of men."
Philosophical counselors have willingly accepted the challenge to take
philosophy out of the lecture hall and present it to the real world.

Simply put, philosophical counseling involves a trained philosopher helping
an individual deal with a problem or an issue that is of concern to that
individual. Philosophical counselors know that the majority of people are
quite capable of resolving most of their problems on a day-to-day basis
either by themselves or with the help of significant others. It is when
problems become too complex -- as, for example, when values seem to
conflict, when facts appear contradictory, when reasoning about a problem
becomes trapped within a circle, or when life seems unexpectedly meaningless
-- that a trained philosopher can be of greater help than the average friend
or family member.

The philosophical counselor often deals with individuals who are
dissatisfied with other forms of counseling they have had. She sees
individuals whose minds are sound but whose thinking is confused or
obstructed. The philosophical counselor takes the approach that most
individuals live by many unexamined (rather than unconscious) assumptions
and values that can affect thinking and behavior in puzzling or distressing
ways. She also sees a person's thinking as being informed by childhood
experiences but not determined by them. Through a series of dialogues the
philosophical counselor helps the client come to an awareness of hidden
biases, unspoken assumptions, and conflicting values that may be preventing
an inquiry into alternative perspectives that could help to ease the
problem. For example, while a psychotherapist may search a client's
unconscious for the causes of a client's distress over a career decision
that must be made, the philosophical counselor will help the client conduct
a conceptual examination of the many issues surrounding such a decision.

It could be argued that this type of intellectual counseling neglects the
emotions and feelings, or what psychologists call the affective domain. But
philosophers know that feelings and emotions are not simply irrational
events that a person must suffer. John Locke characterized the emotions,
which he called the passions, as ideas in our minds that come from both our
sensations and reflections. A number of eminent philosophers, such as Plato,
Aristotle, Seneca, Hobbes, Aquinas, and Sartre, have argued that an emotion
does not simply erupt from the dark unconscious but that it is set in motion
by a perception, a certain way of apprehending the world. Consequently, a
negative feeling or an emotion about oneself, for example, can be changed by
means of a critical examination of one's perception of oneself, and one's
apprehension of the world and one's place in it.

But the philosophical counselor's aim is not simply to resolve a client's
immediate problem and then send him on his way. The philosophical counselor
also offers to educate the client in more effective ways of thinking so that
if a problem arises again the client will be better able to deal with it on
his own. The philosophical counselor is concerned with both the mitigation
of problems and their prevention. She is therefore both a counselor and a
teacher, helping the client to think clearly about the issue at hand while
at the same time giving the client the tools that will improve his thinking
in future. In this way the philosophical counselor ensures that individuals
who have come to her for counseling will not become dependent on her to
solve all similar problems in future.

Granted, cognitive approaches in psychotherapy such as cognitive therapy,
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, logotherapy, and existential
psychotherapy seem to already be doing some of what philosophical counseling
claims to do. These psychotherapies are admittedly based on a philosophical
type of inquiry into the client's reasoning. But these approaches were
developed in the 1950s when psychologists were the only ones interested in
the practice of counseling. Today there are a growing number of philosophers
willing to work with individuals outside of the traditional academic setting
-- philosophers very skilled at actively listening, at separating large
masses of information into manageable pieces and putting them all back
together again, and at spotting inconsistencies, contradictions, and other
problems in a person's reasoning style.

A philosopher, in order to become a philosophical counselor, must have
achieved at least a Master's degree in philosophy. The aspiring
philosophical counselor will often focus his studies on practical or applied
philosophy. Because of this he will be far better qualified to deal with
specifically philosophical issues such as the meaning of life or questions
of right and wrong than the therapist whose education has been predominantly
in psychology. In other words, he will be experienced in discussing
existential and ethical issues for which many psychotherapists have little
or no training.

Many philosophical counselors are hesitant to call philosophical counseling
"therapy". This is because the philosophical counselor, unlike his
psychotherapeutic counterpart, does not diagnose his clients according to
normative ideals about normalcy, mental health, self-understanding, or
psychic well-being, such as the DSM-IV or the ICD-10. Neither does he offer
the sort of therapy that expects the client to passively receive treatment.
As with many modern psychodynamic therapies, the client is an active
participant in the philosophical encounter. Philosophical counseling can be
therapeutic in its effect. Wittgenstein saw philosophy as having a practical
use in "untying the knots in our thinking," or what he considered the
treatment of "intellectual disease." The philosophical methods required for
untying these troublesome knots he called "therapies." Therapy in the
philosophical sense comes from the client's increased understanding,
self-awareness, and feeling of well-being -- all products of a careful
exploration, in tandem with a skilled philosopher, of herself and the world
around her.

To undertake such an exploration some philosophical counselors prefer to use
the reasoning of a single philosopher or philosophical system. But most take
a more eclectic approach, knowing that specialization in one area of
philosophy restricts a counselor's effectiveness when his client's problems
or concerns shift over time. The key to philosophical counseling generally
is its client-centered and open-ended nature, one which does not manipulate
the client's thinking so as to bring him to accept some particular
philosophy as the "Truth." The philosophical counselor's intention is to
help his client reach any reasonable and morally permissible goal the client
has set for herself.

Apart from being of great help to the average person, philosophical
counseling can also be of immense value to professional psychotherapists.
After all, philosophy is the foundation upon which all other fields of
thought are based. Philosophy does not simply transmit a body of knowledge;
it is the act of constantly improving one's understanding by means of
thinking and discussion. Philosophers have an extraordinarily rich
repertoire of theoretical perspectives at their disposal and therefore are
especially adept at seeing the implications and assumptions behind the
theories guiding all of the various approaches to psychological therapy. The
philosophical counselor is well prepared to facilitate an inquiry into both
the content and the process of reasoning that may have resulted in either
professional or personal difficulties for the psychotherapist.

While the adage that the unexamined life is not worth living is somewhat of
an exaggeration, it is certainly true that the examination of a life by
means of philosophical counseling can lead to the living of a better life.