science

Philosophical counseling

Philosophical counseling is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Philosophical counseling rather than just read about it. In short: Philosophical consultancy, also sometimes called philosophical practice or philosophical counseling or clinical philosophy, is a contemporary movement in practical philosophy. Developing since the 1980s as a profession but since the 1950s as a practice, practitioners of philosophical counseling ordinarily have a doctorate or minimally a master's degree in philosophy and offer their philosophical counseling or consul…

Key takeaways

Philosophical counseling belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Philosophical counseling to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Philosophical counseling from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Philosophical consultancy, also sometimes called philosophical practice or philosophical counseling or clinical philosophy, is a contemporary movement in practical philosophy. Developing since the 1980s as a profession but since the 1950s as a practice, practitioners of philosophical counseling ordinarily have a doctorate or minimally a master's degree in philosophy and offer their philosophical counseling or consultation services to clients who look for a philosophical understanding of their lives, social problems, or even mental problems. In the last case, philosophical counseling might be in lieu of, or in conjunction with, psychotherapy. The movement has often been said to be rooted in the Socratic tradition, which viewed philosophy as a search for the Good and the good life. A life without philosophy was not worth living for Socrates. This led to the philosophy of Stoicism, for example, resulting in Stoic therapy. Philosophical practice has continued to expand and is attractive as an alternative to counselling and psychotherapy for those who prefer to avoid a medicalization of life problems. Numerous philosophical consultants have emerged and there is a strong international interest and a bi-annual international conference.

History Peter Koestenbaum at San Jose State University in California was an early figure in philosophical counseling. His 1978 book The New Image of the Person: The Theory and Practice of Clinical Philosophy set out the essential contributions of philosophy to counseling. His own practice was augmented by extensive training of mental health professionals in applications of philosophical principles. Gerd B. Achenbach and Ad Hoogendijk are two German and Dutch philosophers who established themselves as consultant philosophers in the 1980s and led the way to a number of other developments all over the world. They proposed an alternative to psychotherapeutic culture by working exclusively within the field of existential investigation with clients or patients, whom they called 'visitors'. The world's oldest association of philosophical counseling and practice appears to be the German Society for Philosophical Practice and Counseling, which was founded in 1982 by Achenbach. In the United States, the oldest association of philosophical counseling and practice appears to be the National Philosophical Counseling Association (NPCA), formerly called the American Society for Philosophy, Counseling, and Psychotherapy, which was co-founded in 1992 by three American philosophers, Elliot D. Cohen, Paul Sharkey, and Thomas Magnell. The NPCA offers a primary certificate in logic-based therapy (LBT) through the Institute of Critical Thinking. The movement is also connected with and related to existential therapy, which has thrived in the United Kingdom since the establishment of the Society for Existential Analysis (SEA) in London in 1988. This was based on the work of Emmy van Deurzen, also a philosopher who has applied philosophical thinking to the practice of psychotherapy. Philosophical consultancy is often applied to business consultancy as well as to individuals, as it frequently involves a rethinking of values and beliefs and is also a method for rational conflict resolution. Pierre Grimes founded the Noetic Society in 1967 for the study of dialogue and dialectic. He became the head of the Philosophical Midwifery Program when the Noetic Society was incorporated in 1978. The American Philosophical Practitioners Association (APPA) was founded in 1998 in New York City by Lou Marinoff. APPA offers a certification program in client counseling for those with advanced degrees in philosophy who wish to practice philosophical counseling. It also publishes a professional journal and has a membership list of those certified as philosophical counselors on its website. Marinoff was at the center of a 2004 controversy when his philosophical counseling practice at City College of New York was temporarily shuttered by college officials who feared he was offering mental health advice without proper training and licensing; Marinoff responded by suing for what he described as his freedom of speech being stifled. Philosophical practice has continued to expand and is attractive as an alternative to counselling and psychotherapy for those who prefer to avoid a medicalization of life problems. Numerous philosophical consultants have emerged and there is a strong international interest and a bi-annual international conference. There are a number of important publications in the field. There are presently a number of professional associations for philosophical counseling throughout the world. In India an academic course in philosophical counselling is offered by the Department of Philosophy, Panjab University, Chandigarh and the University of Kerala. Philosophical counselling is an emerging field in Romania and in Italy and there are now specialisations and university courses in this field, with contributions from other European practitioners such as Nicola Velotti. However, there is public debate about the need for a legal framework within which to operate as a profession.

Goals and methods Philosophical consultancy is a relatively new movement in philosophy that applies philosophical thinking and debating to the resolution of a person's problem. Achenbach argues that it is life that calls to thinking, rather than thinking that informs life; the act of philosophising can, therefore, give direction in its own right, as living precedes thinking and practice precedes theory. According to the Preamble of the NPCA Standards of Practice,

a philosophical practitioner helps clients to clarify, articulate, explore and comprehend philosophical aspects of their belief systems or world views. ... Clients may consult philosophical practitioners for help in exploring philosophical problems related to such matters as mid-life crises, career changes, stress, emotions, assertiveness, physical illness, death and dying, aging, meaning of life, and morality. On the other side philosophical practitioners also initiate projects in common life worlds with various goals that are related to essential problems of life, such as sustainable energy, direct democracy, etc. Activities common to philosophical practice include:

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Philosophical counseling

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Philosophical counseling claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Philosophical counseling before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Philosophical counseling ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Philosophical counseling

In research: Philosophical counseling appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Philosophical counseling in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Philosophical counseling is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Philosophical counseling, Philosophy education, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Philosophical counseling outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Philosophical counseling in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Philosophical counseling means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Philosophical counseling out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Philosophical counseling in simple terms?

Why does Philosophical counseling matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Philosophical counseling?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Philosophical counseling.