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Philosophical counseling (what it is)
Philosophical counseling is a discipline of recent origin, but now common in many countries of the world. It was born in Germany in 1981, on the initiative of Gerd Achenbach, who, lamenting the separation of academic philosophy from real life, claims the public role played by philosophy in ancient Greece, where it also took care of wisdom (in greek: phronesis), that is the way in which each man can live their lives, and was thus considered as a discipline or "practice".
Assuming Socrates and his Socratic dialogue as reference models and criticizing the attitude of the majority of medical psychotherapy and psychoanalysis in particular, Achenbach revalues the humanistic approach of the helping relationship and opened his first studio in the world of what he called Philosophical Praxis. The purpose is to offer a service that is an alternative to psychotherapy to all those who, in need of aid and cooperation to deal with existential problems, moral decision-making, are nevertheless "healthy", not suffering from psychopathology. In compairason with psychotherapy, philosophical counseling does not work with psychological techniques, does not deal with research in the past unconscious and does not aim to understand the causes of thesymptoms, but looks to the future working rationally and realistically about the present.
Why seeking advice from a philosopher?
Every human being, regardless of their culture and social backgrounds, has a personal Weltanschauung (worldview), through which they interpret reality that surrounds it, react to it, judges it and finally intervene in it. Faced with the complexity that characterizes modern societies, however, it seems problematic to achieve for an individual visions of reality sufficiently comprehensive and consistent. Increasingly, indeed, one has to do with doubts and uncertainties, due to insecurity and states of crisis.
Monty Python - Philosopher Football
Up to now mainly the psychotherapy seemed to be the discipline which can provide a possible answer to the existential difficulties of the individual. However, if the discomfort is rooted in the way we interpret reality, if the origins of doubts and prostrations are in their own world view, it will not be useful to consult with your doctor even because you are looking for a cure, but rather to an expert who understand the rising of ideas and thoughts, who seeks instead to clarify the complex relationships that exist between the interpretation of the world and aims, values and meanings, concepts and expectations.
The expert in this area is precisely the philosophical counselor, a graduate in philosophy that put their expertise and skills at disposal of a consultant. He/she establishes a dialogic relationship with the consultant that aims to explore and clarify their Weltanschauung, respecting, however, needs and priorities. The philosophical counselor has no models of "health" or "normal ", does not work on the unconscious, the psyche or on the biography of the person who consults: He/she helps, facilitating the understanding of his/her vision of reality, contributing to a reflection on and a reworking of it.
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The professional philosopher is not necessarily called to make things better or to help eliminate the problems, but rather to make them understandable in their complexity, so that the other can live with them rather than against or in spite of them (Petra Von Morstein, Canada).
As an expert in the interpretation of visions of the world, the philosophical counselor helps counselees discover the different meanings that are contained in their ways of life and critically examines critical areas that represent their difficulties. He offers no theories, but rather practical and tools for conceptual analyzes, problematizations, discoveries of hidden assumptions, descriptions, distinctions, indications of relationships. Such tools can help customers to examine their reality and to critically review them (Ran Lahav, Israel).
The goal of philosophical counselor is not just to make you happy and satisfied customers, but rather to clarify and improve their ideas and visions of the world through a process of critical reflection. It is assumed that such reflection can often lead to a solution of the problems customers, and that this may also arise satisfaction and happiness, but the philosophical counselor focuses on the analysis of world views associated with the existential problems of the client, not the problems themselves. philosophical counselors can prepare unique services and valuable - critical analysis of ideas and visions of the world problems - but the philosophical counseling is not psychotherapy or spiritual counseling (Roger Paden, USA).