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Vasile Petru Hațegan
e-mail: vphategan@gmail.com
Rev. Roum. Philosophie, 63, 2, p. 365–380, Bucureşti, 2019
THERAPY OR COUNSELING?
CURRENT DIRECTIONS OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL PRACTICE
VASILE HAȚEGAN
Abstract. Contemporary philosophical practice, through its new form of expression,
philosophical counseling, manifests the interdisciplinary connections with other fields,
one of which is oriented towards interference with psychology and psychiatry as
branches of the vast field of health care. The concept of philosophical counseling is by
its definition intended for healthy people, considered to be clients or discussion
partners, who can be assisted by a practitioner to clarify or understand a particular life
situation or a dilemma faced, by learning em to develop a philosophy of life.
Addressing the same life situation by a specialist in psychology or psychiatry, on the
other hand, is required for persons with cerebral issues and ‘disorders’. We support the
preservation of a direction for philosophical practice oriented towards philosophical
counseling, different from the therapeutic approach of other fields. We argue that
philosophical counseling and the medical treatment for persons considered ‘mentally
disordered’ are not mutually exclusive, but complementary.
Keywords: couseling, philosophical counseling, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, philosophical
practice.
INTRODUCTION
The paper starts from a question that arises when there is a debate about the
need to promote philosophical counseling as a form of philosophical practice that is
often included as part of a therapy for a person or group. Typically the process of
diagnosis requires an initial interview, which involves the bringing up of a selection of
philosophical topics. This therapeutic discussion with the patient results in a
preliminary assessment and leads to further diagnosis and treatment. The question
we ask is whether philosophical practice becomes another type of therapy addressed to
the individual or group subject to a philosophical counseling procedure?
This question on the classification of philosophical practices in the category
of therapies comes first of all from the involuntary association of the specific work
of a philosophical counselor, similar to the initial psychiatric or psychotherapeutic
Vasile Hațegan 2
366
interview. In both situations the practitioner has a dialogue with the subject, but the
approaches are methodologically very different.
Future directions of philosophical practice can have an important educational
contribution to the person, by learning the concept of philosophy, as a result of a
philosophical counseling process that can indirectly produce the same effects achieved
so far only through applied psychotherapy. Since 1978, American philosopher
Peter Koestenbaum has written about the concept of “clinical philosophy”
1
as a
result of a first intersection of philosophy with psychotherapy, which starts from
the curative role of psychotherapy. Later, Koestenbaum has a dialogue on this subject
with Peter Raabe, a Canadian practitioner dedicated to philosophical counseling,
who testifies that “Psychotherapy is only accidentally connected with healing”
2
and
his book is an attempt to “the development of these philosophical-psychiatric
ideas”
3
. In fact, what Koestenbaum then called clinical philosophy, later takes the
form of current concepts of philosophical practice or philosophical counseling.
Referring to the application of philosophy, the German philosopher and
psychologist Eckart Ruschmann presents in 1999 the work Philosophische Beratung
4
,
in which he notes how philosophy is viewed by a philosophical counselor as “a
concrete and dialogical counseling situation”
5
. In his study, Ruschmann shows that
there is a certain link between education, counseling and therapy, which was also
emphasized by Luitgard Brem-Graser
6
, who indicates that the counselors’ skills
include the “psychological, pedagogical, medical, philosophical and theological”
7
approaches, which also highlights some interdisciplinary links in a counseling
process. From all these connections, we will focus in this paper only on those that
interact with some areas specific to human health care.
INTERDISCIPLINARY LINKS BETWEEN PHILOSOPHY
AND PSYCHOLOGY
To talk about the current connections between philosophy and some areas of
health care, we must start from antiquity, when philosophy had an important role to
play. The ancient philosophical schools were those which, through Socratic dialogues
or spiritual exercises, also took care of the soul, along with the doctors of the time,
who had concerns about body care and the restoration of the person’s health. Since
the late reunion of the two fields, namely philosophy and medicine, metaphorically
1
Peter Koestenbaum, The new image of the person: the theory and practice of clinical
philosophy, Greenwod Press, Westport, 1978.
2
Peter Raabe, Issues in philosophical counseling, Praeger, Westport, 2002, p. 32.
3
Ibidem, p. 33.
4
Eckart Ruschmann, Philosophische Beratung, Kohlhammer, Stuttgard, 1999.
5
Eckart Ruschmann, Consulenza filosofica, Armando Siciliano, Messina, 2004, p. 51.
6
Luitgard Brem-Graser, Handbuch der Beratung fur helfende Berufe, Munchen-Basel, 1993.
7
Apud Ruschamnn, p. 62.
3 Therapy or Counseling?
367
expressed as their marriage, at the end of the eighteenth century, was materialized
by the appearance of psychology and psychotherapy followed by psychiatry.
Recently, Italian philosopher Carlo Molteni has used this metaphor by
indicating that “Wundt’s Psychophysiology is born from the Marriage of Philosophy
and Medicine”
8
. The same source speaks of the emergence of the first experimental
laboratory in psychology, initiated in Leipzig in 1879, by Wilhelm Wundt, who is
considered to be the initiator of a separation of psychology from the wider area of
philosophy, becoming a distinct scientific branch and distancing itself from the
philosophical disciplines that have consecrated it until then
9
. It should be noted that
until that time, the curative function of the human soul and mind was attributed
only to philosophy, through its specific practices applied in the humanist field.
The interdisciplinary links of philosophy with psychology have been identified
in practice, especially by those who have activated in the area dedicated today to
the counseling of persons, under different approaches, depending on the specialist’s
specialization, towards a case presented by the person.
To exemplify, we refer to Ben Mijuskovic, who has dedicated himself to
studying the concept of loneliness and has published many articles on this issue
10
,
since 1977, later concluded that a problem can be treated philosophically or
psychiatrically
11
, depending on the manifestations of the person confronting with that.
To practice psychotherapy, in most countries around the world there is a
requirement for a specialist in this field to undertake psychology courses, but there
are exceptions to this rule, says Eckart Ruschmann
12
, showing that in Germany
there has been a law since 1998 which also allows doctors to do such therapies.
This approach shows us an official classification of psychotherapy in the area of
health care, along with medicine, which by definition has this assumed role.
In order to identify possible connections between the two categories of
practice, namely between psychotherapy and philosophical practice, we must start
from studies that have highlighted the elements that differentiate them and which
can lead us to find common points of interest that they can have, in the interest of
the person they both serve.
In this research, we have identified works that briefly present some features
specific to both areas, highlighting major differences in approach and action
between the two areas, even showing incompatibilities with regard to the aim
pursued by the therapy of the person by psychotherapy, and identifying a vision of
the world and their life, by philosophical counseling.
In Italy, Neri Pollastri was the first philosopher to open a philosophical
practice cabinet, and he made some clarifications on the concept of philosophical
8
Carlo E.L. Molteni, Prevenire lo stress sul lavoro, Ipoc, Milano, 2017, p. 16.
9
Ibidem
10
Ben Mijuskovic, “Loneliness an interdisciplinary approach”, Psychiatry 40, 1977, p. 113–132.
11
Ben Mijuskovic, “Some reflections on philosophical counseling and psychotherapy” in Ran
Lahav (Ed.) Essays on Philosophical Counseling, University Press of America, Lanham – MA, 1995,
p. 85–100.
12
Echart Ruschman, op.cit. p. 63.
Vasile Hațegan 4
368
counseling, pointing out in his book Consulente filosofico cercarsi
13
, what this can
not be, precisely to highlight the non-therapeutic character of the philosophical
practice, and to accentuate that this is no self-care, being part of the worldview
sought by a person with the help of a philosophical counselor
14
.
On the other confrontations that had been between the two fields, the
philosopher Giorgio Giacometti, made in 2010 a collection of texts published under
the title: Sofia e Psiche. Consulenza filosofica e psicoterapia a confronto
15
. In this
volume, we identify a brief comparison
16
between philosophical counseling as it
was in Achenbach’s writings
17
and the concept of strategic psychology introduced by
Giorgio Nardone
18
. Thus, Paolo Cervari presents some characteristics of psychology
compared to the same elements of analysis, and which are not included in the
philosophical counseling, in the sense that he does not have a definite method or
working procedures, does not pursue a specific objective or solve the problem and
does not elaborate the curative prescriptions
19
.
Practitioner Ran Lahav analyzes philosophical counseling as the one that
stops at the worldview of the person, and refers to some of his differences to
existential psychotherapy, which he says “is based on a specific philosophy of life”
20
and analyzes the existentialist conception of the person’s life through a critical
examination of his life. Lahav points out that by philosophical counseling, the same
existential situation is analyzed with arguments and counter-arguments, the practitioner
introducing philosophical materials in the form of quoted texts or ideas from
philosophy to facilitate a philosophical debate with the person who examine his life
21
.
We observe to this practitioner a concern to find out what the influences of
philosophy and psychology are in philosophical counseling, saying firmly that the
latter is not psychological, arguing negatively that its role is “not to heal the person,
but giving them the tools which they need to deal with their own problems”
22
. In
his analysis, Lahav also contemplates some possible objections that may come
from therapists in the sense that philosophy becomes useless in solving the current
problems of the person, or that “visions of the world are simple expressions of
behavioral processes”
23
. The question Lahav puts forth at the end of his book, where
13
Neri Pollastri, Consulente filosofico cercarsi, Apogeo, Milano, 2007.
14
Ibidem, p. 28–33.
15
Giorgio Giacometti (Ed), Sofia e Psiche. Consulenza filosofica e psicoterapia a confronto,
Liguori, Napoli, 2010.
16
Paolo Cervari, “Strategie indecidibili. Ambigui incroci tra psicologia strategica e consulenza
filosofica” in Giorgio Giacometti (Ed), Sofia e Psiche. Consulenza filosofica e psicoterapia a
confronto, Liguori, Napoli, 2010, p. 167–191.
17
Gerd B. Achenbach, La consulenza filosofica, Feltrinelli, Milano, 2009.
18
Giorgio Nardone, Alessandro Salvini, Il dialogo strategico, Ponte alle Grazie, Milano, 2004.
19
Paolo Cervari, op.cit. p. 178.
20
Ran Lahav, Comprendere la vita, Apogeo, Milano, 2004, p. 41.
21
Ibidem, p. 42–45.
22
Ibidem, p. 182.
23
Ibidem, p. 184.
5 Therapy or Counseling?
369
the search for wisdom comes from the fact that psychologists have taken in their
work instruments of philosophy, and which tends to leave philosophical counseling
in favor to the psychologist. The answer to this almost rhetorical question comes from
the fact that the new specialization “philosophical counseling requires skills that are
developed by philosophy rather than psychology”
24
, Lahav specifying that “philosophers
are the natural interlocutors to adress when seeking philosophical help”
25
.
The work published in 1997 by Emmy Van Deurzen-Smith
26
refers to therapists
and psychologists who have taken on philosophy in their practices such as Ludwig
Binswanger, Jacques Lacan, Rollo May, and Irvin Yalom; and the author states that
the new specialization that emerges, philosophical counseling, is not therapy.
Practitioner Shlomit Schuster also adopted this approach. She pointed out
that practitioners can learn from therapists but also vice versa, referring to Socrates
who learns from those with whom he speaks in the market, but also that “philosophy
turns the psychotherapist into a philosophical counselor”
27
. Thus, Shlomit Schuster
in her volume on philosophical practice introduces the concept, the philosophical
care, that uses the therapeutic effects of philosophy, starting from the idea of
psychologists that “philosophy of life has therapeutic value”
28
or the fact that sick
people also need the philosophy.
The analysis of this concept is continued by the confrontation of the
philosophical practice promoted by German philosopher Gerd Achenbach with
some characteristics of the therapy promoted by Carl Rogers and Martin Buber,
showing the importance of free communication given by the lack of a method to
Achenbach, where the dialogue has a primary role in counseling. Another subject
approached by the same author is Sartre’s philosophy, which was taken up in the
form of a new concept, the clinical practice. The Sartrian concept is supported
more recently by philosopher Peter Koestenbaum, whose method of combining
philosophy with psychotherapy is being indicated by Schuster, which she claims to
be an “unhappy marriage” of the two areas
29
.
Contemporary philosophical practice can put into his work philosophical
ideas from antiquity to the present, here Schuster recommends besides the writings
of Plato, Buber or Sartre, another series of philosophers such as Aristotle, Plotinus,
Hegel, Russell, Schopenhauer, Derrida or Wittgenstein, with using the statement
that “Achenbach’s philosophical practice differs significantly from how philosophy
is used by psychotherapists, psycho-analysts and other mental health operators in
terms of methodology and content”
30
.
24
Ibidem, p. 185.
25
Ibidem, p. 186.
26
Emmy Van Deurzen-Smith, Everyday Mysteries: Existential Dimensions of Psychotherapy,
Routledge, Londra, 1997.
27
Shlomit Schuster, La practica filosofica, Apogeo, Milano, 2006, p. 112.
28
Ibidem, p. 85–138.
29
Ibidem, p. 128–129.
30
Ibidem, p. 138.
Vasile Hațegan 6
370
A brief reference to the relationship between philosophical counseling and
psychotherapy is found in Davide Miccione, who regards counseling “as a therapy
for healthy people”
31
and he paraphrases the Spanish philosopher Jose Barientos
Rastrojo
32
, who identified three types of reports of this relationship, where to every
typology found by the Spanish philosopher associates the name of a noted
practitioner, thus: a first report was defined as the harmony, without many options
of collaboration, represented by Lou Marinoff; the second report was defined as a
symbiosis or collaboration by taking on methods and knowledge on each side,
represented by Tim LeBon and Lodovico Berra; the third type of report being a
critical one that separates the philosophical therapy practice, like Shlomit Schuster,
Neri Pollastri and Gerd Achenbach.
To emphasize the interferences that take place between health care domains,
on using tools or methods or ideas specific to philosophy, we consider it appropriate to
have two approaches materialized either by identifying differences or divergences
resulting from the attribution of these elements of work by one of the parties; either
by presenting similarities in practice, and emphasizing the role of each applied
field, and indirectly indicated the interdisciplinary links of philosophical practice
with psychotherapy or other related health-related fields, especially those with
approaches to the human mind.
DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN PHILOSOPHICAL COUNSELING
AND PSYCHOTHERAPY OR PSYCHOANALYSIS
More and more often, practitioners of philosophy face a straightforward
question, asking what are the differences between their philosophical counseling
proposal and the work of a psychotherapist or psychologist, a question that appears
widely in the perception of the general public.
In order to come up with a broader answer, we will detail the differences that
we have found and start with the answer given to this question by Professor Giorgio
Giacometti, who tells us that “philosophical practice, unlike psychotherapy, does not
have a therapeutic goal (but it could have one, legally)”
33
. Giacometti’s conclusions
as an editor are that the philosopher does not have in his training the tools specific
to psychotherapy, but that a philosophical counselor could adopt some instruments
in this field in the form of a psychoanalytic transport, he shows in the introduction
of the volume
34
, where he presents comparatively the philosophical practice with
some schools of psychology and psychotherapy analyzed by some Italian authors.
31
Davide Miccione, La consulenza filosofica, Xenia, Milano, 2007, p. 22–24.
32
Apud Miccione, 2007 (Jose Barientos Rastrojo, Introducion al asesoramiento y la
orientacion filosofica, Ediciones Idea, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 2005).
33
Giorgio Giacometti, Sofia e Psiche. Consulenza filosofica e psicoterapia a confronto,Liguori,
Napoli, 2010, p. 1.
34
Ibidem
7 Therapy or Counseling?
371
For greater relevance, Giacometti gives priority to the first practitioner who
opened a practice cabinet in Italy, Neri Pollastri
35
, who presents “philosophy, and
nothing else” as an activity about view of the world, not the person himself, and
highlights some elements that make the distinction between philosophical practice
and psychotherapy or psychoanalysis, these being in the following sense: an
approach of the unconscious with the manifestation of a lack of interest in
explaining the causes of psychic phenomena and orientation towards understanding
a particular situation; the renunciation of the instruments specific to psychoanalysis
and the manifestation of a philosophical direction that would deny association with
therapy, but also the exit from the interior and the orientation towards the
understanding of the world with the realization of an intersubjective orientation
oriented towards counseling
36
.
The Italian practitioner Neri Pollastri also wonders: “Why does philosophical
counseling work?” And then he concludes by pointing out the importance of
philosophical dialogue “in which the professional does not assume the role of the
therapist, nor of the teacher or of the master, but only the role of an interlocutor
who in turn aspires to know – that is, a socratic role, which presupposes not knowing
what might be right” which is in fact an acknowledgment of the non-therapeutical
character of the philosophical counseling process.
Analyzing from the point of view of the practitioner in philosophical
counseling, Pollastri highlights several meanings of the term “therapy,”
37
in which
the relationship with the patient, diagnosis and treatment of the patient undergoing
the procedure are attributed to psychotherapy or psychoanalysis, specific to the
psychotherapeutic or psychiatric domain; also referring to a client’s counseling
relationship to help them improve their life, which may have therapeutic effects as
a result of philosophical counseling, thereby avoiding the conventional meaning of
the term under consideration
38
.
Another usual question is: Can philosophy heal?, which Pier Aldo Rovatti is
trying to answer in his work with the same title
39
, and he finds the existence of a
contemporary therapeutic culture, noted especially by American sociologists
40
who
supports the requirement of treatment or therapies. Rovatti shows that philosophy,
through this practice of counseling, refuses or counteracts this cultural approach to
therapy, emphasizing that “philosophical healing is not a soothing one to alleviate a
symptom”
41
but only a part of a game manifested as a philosophical practice,
35
Neri Pollastri, “Un estraneo in famiglia. Sulla relazione tra consulenza filosofica e psicoanalisi” in
G. Giacometti (Ed.), Sofia e Psiche. Consulenza filosofica e psicoterapia a confronto, Liguori,
Napoli, 2010, p. 9–36.
36
Ibidem, p. 16.
37
Ibidem, p. 33.
38
Neri Pollastri, Il pensiero e la vita, Apogeao, Milano, 2004, p. 103.
39
Pier Aldo Rovatti, La filosofia pou curare, Raffaelo Cortina, Milano, 2006.
40
Frank Furedi, Therapeutic Culture, 2004.
41
P.A.Rovatti, op.cit., p. 79.
Vasile Hațegan 8
372
becoming an important instrument, with the role being played by the philosophical
counselor.
With the help of these various interpretations of the concept of therapy, we
can move from the curative role initially attributed to philosophy, which was later
taken over by the therapies generated by the emergence of psychology and
psychiatry, as distant domains dedicated to the mental health of the person, going
to identify and highlight some philosophical effects that can be achieved through
philosophical practice.
Below we present a comparison between the two domains, from which results
some conclusions regarding the differences and similarities.
Fig. 1. Schematic representation of a counseling or psychotherapy process.
From this representation we can conclude that there are fundamental
differences between philosophical practice and psychotherapy, as noted by the
Italian Augusto Cavadi who says the psychologist is concerned about deciphering
the psychological aspects of the person, while a philosopher practitioner has
concerns about philosophical aspects, and his practice becomes “an alternative to
psychotherapy” more than being “alternative psychotherapy”
42
.
Based on this representation, we present in the following table, a short
comparation with many features of philosophical counseling presented alongside
the characteristics of psychotherapy or psychoanalysis, to reflect more suggestively
the differences that each manifests in relation to one another.
Next is the list of elements specific to each domain, presented in the next table,
according to their different position relative to the other side, which does not imply
a confrontation of the analyzed practices, emphasizing only the specificity of each.
We subscribe to the idea launched by Ran Lahav
43
and subsequently followed
up by Cavadi
44
on the evaluation of the outcomes of these services to the health of
the person, which should be done differently, given the type of service applied, and
42
Augusto Cavadi, Filosofia di strada, Di Girolamo, Trapani, 2010, p. 166–167.
43
Ran Lahav, op.cit., p. 23–24.
44
Augusto Cavadi, op.cit., p. 168.
9 Therapy or Counseling?
373
where psychotherapy can be assessed by efficiency indicators on the person’s
condition, and philosophical practice should be evaluated with indicators to express
the importance of philosophical concepts applied to the person with the help of
philosophical counseling.
Table 1
Comparative table between philosophical counseling and psychotherapy / psychiatry
Philosophical counseling
vs. Psychotherapy / Psychiatry
Occupation is in the process of recognition
Recognized profession
The specialist is prepared in philosophical
practice / philosophical counseling
The specialist is prepared in psychology/
psychiatry
The specialist uses the specific tools for
philosophical practice
The specialist uses the psychotherapy
procedure or medication
Works with a client/ counseled person
Works with a patient / sick person
Using a practitioner of philosophy or
philosophical counselor
Using a psychologist or psychotherapist
Therapies are avoided
It is a therapy / treatment
The process may have therapeutic effects
The goal is the person’s recovery
Process without result or therapeutic effect
Action has a result, through applied therapy
It deal with an existential problem
It deals with pathological problems
It has no concerns for establishing a
diagnosis
The specialists working with healthy persons
Analyzes the symptoms and pathology of
the person’s manifestation
Action is looking for a meaning in life or
responding to a dilemma
The action is therapeutic, determined by the
symptoms of the person
A counseling requirement is determined
A diagnosis is established – DSM V
It does not follow a specific method, it is
adapted to the counselor
Using a method of therapy or treatment
The process has a short time for resolving,
compared to another therapy. No
dependence on the specialist
The process needs time for therapy or
treatment. The process can create a certain
dependence on the specialist
The process can be without procedures.
Free choice of methods and working strategy
It has a well-defined protocol and work
directions
Client participation is voluntary
The recommendation exists for using therapy
Medication is not used
Using psychotherapy / medications
No problems solved, just clarifying the
dilemma
The purpose is solving the problem
The counseling process does not have
well-defined objectives
It aims to transform the person
Vasile Hațegan 10
374
A facilitator between client and their
problem
Therapist for the symptoms of the patient
Analyzes the present with orientation to
the future. Using the questions to clarify
and understand the problem
Treating the symptoms, exploring the
subject’s past to identify the cause of the
problem
It has no therapeutic skills, it focuses on
the person’s life problems
It has a concern about the pathology of the
disease rather than the person
The specialist manifests professionalism:
through non-involvement in solution
The specialist manifests professionalism:
generating benefits for persons
Helps the client for finding the personal
vision about the world
Not helping the persons clarify existential
concerns
The specialist has a neutral position to the
problem/dilemma, like a facilitator
between the client and his problem
The specialist has a therapeutic
involvement in the patient’s problem
In the process other therapists or family
members can participate
No other specialists accepted in therapy or
psychoanalysis
The client can stop any time the procedure
The patient can’t stop the
procedure/treatment
The process generates an agreement with
themself (problem solving or dilemma
clarification)
The process generates therapeutic results
(mental or behavioral effects)
THE ELEMENTS OF CONVERGENCE AND CONNECTION BETWEEN
PHILOSOPHICAL COUNSELING AND OTHER THERAPIES
To put in evidence the elements of convergence of philosophical practice, we
refer to the helping relationship given by philosophical practice, through the
spiritual exercises that have become philosophical exercises, which will also
indirectly connect with psychology, as expressed in the conclusion reached by the
Italian Massimo Bardin, who associates these philosophical exercises with “a form
of negative psychology that seeks to remove the self-attachment induced by
alienation”
45
.
It is also important to note the openness of philosophical practice to other
areas of therapy or counseling by the fact that a philosophical counselor is
introduced into his or her training to recognize a pathology specific to other areas
where ethics is bound to do a recommendation to a specialist in psychology /
45
Massimo Bardin, “Esercizi spirituali filosofici. Relazione di aiuto e practica filosofica” in
Moreno Montanari (Ed.), La consulenza filosofica: terapia e formazione?, L’Orecchio di Van Gogh,
Falconara, 2006, p. 57.
11 Therapy or Counseling?
375
psychiatry or other related fields in which they can work together to solve the
person’s situation. It is important that if the counseled person is already undergoing
psychiatric treatment or psychotherapy, the practitioner in philosophy will not
interfere with ongoing applications but will only support the person, with their
agreement and with the advice of the first specialist involved in the therapy of the
person.
We consider it extremely important and necessary to communicate between
all the specialists involved in the counseling of a person, from philosophy practitioners
or psychotherapists, who use specific working tools, thus renouncing the exclusivity of
procedures used or methods of work, starting from the common origin of the
domains in which it currently operates. Augusto Cavadi identifies four similarities
between philosophical counseling and psychological counseling, which he briefly
presents in his book, “Filosofia di strada” referring to: the existence of a unitary
anthropological vision, the establishment of relationships to improve the person’s
life, which both develops the counselor ability to listen and leads to the creation of
empathy between the counselor and the person, and in the fact the professional
history of each consultant builds the prestige of the profession
46
.
We present here a list with some of the similarities and affinities identified,
that exist in both studied fields, both in philosophical practice and in psychotherapy, as
follows:
– both are derived from philosophy, they have common origins;
– both are occupational services, designed for counseling and care for the
person, provided by specialists trained for each field of activity;
– the specialists act professionally and responsibly
– the specialists follow and observe an ethical code of practice for the profession
of counseling;
– both are rewarded services in the sense that specialists charge a fee for their
practice;
– vocational training takes place on the basis of unitary training programs and
according to the profession or field of specialization;
– both use dialogue, a philosophical instrument useful for communication
between the specialist and his subject;
– have a high degree of specialization;
– ensures the confidentiality of the counseling process or the applied therapy;
– carried out within an individual working cabinet, specific to the specialization;
– the subject of the procedure is actively involved in counseling or therapy;
– the specialist can also work in mixed teams or can call or recommend the
case to other specialists.
By analyzing these common characteristics, we observe the presence of
philosophical instruments in both studied fields, which are used by each specialist
according to the declared purpose of his action. The psychologist or the psychiatrist
46
Augusto Cavadi, op.cit., p. 163–165.
Vasile Hațegan 12
376
is using his practice for the realization of the proposed therapy, while the
philosophical counselor or the practitioner uses them for educational purpose, by
counseling the person to establish their own vision of the world and life, but also to
teach them to philosophize, with some results in the clarification of certain life
situations that they confront. In this context, Italian Moreno Montanari wonders
rhetorically whether philosophical counseling is a therapy or training? He argues in
the written preface to the book of the same title that the philosophy through his
practice of philosophical counseling can rather make a formative relationship than
a therapeutical relationship through the philosophical dialogue that takes place in
the philosophical counseling process and which he calls dialogical practice
47
.
A similar view is taken by the Canadian Peter Raabe, who emphasizes the
formative role of philosophical practice, by developing skills that can be useful to
the counselor, he refers to the fact that “philosophers also offer to directly teach
their clients critical and creative skills”
48
, a remark that eliminates any tendency of
addiction to the practitioner. This approach confirms that through philosophical
counseling a transfer of information to the client can take place, learning with the
practitioner how to develop thinking skills specific to a process of making
philosophy for themselves and leading them to identify a world view of their life.
Ben Mijuskovic has an interdisciplinary approach, which shows that a
practitioner in philosophical counseling needs knowledge in several areas, saying
that “a truly philosophical approach must be interdisciplinary to be effective”
49
. In
the same context, the author states that “The philosophical counselor is not a
therapist nor a counselor of a student or a patient. Philosophical Counseling must
be ‘client-centered’”
50
, indicating the importance that philosophy should be given
in the counseling procedure applied to a person where the role of training or
therapy can only be noticed as the effect of the philosophy process with the person
participating in the counseling philosophical.
American practitioner Lou Marinoff supports maintaining a collaboration
between psychology and philosophical practice, stating that “both areas are
becoming poorer as the bifurcation of their roads increases.”
51
Marinoff identifies
the common concern of the two areas of practice is towards exploration,
understanding and acceptance, and here appears the bifurcation of the application
of counseling, respectively in the case of philosophical counseling, refers to the
person’s problem and in the case of psychological counseling refers to the
emotional responses to the problem of the person.
47
Moreno Montanari, La consulenza filosofica: terapia o formazione?, L’Orecchio di Van
Gogh, Falconara, 2006, p. 7–14.
48
Peter Raabe, Philosophical Counseling. Theory and Practice, Praeger, Westport, 2001,
p. 276–277.
49
Ben Mijuskovic, “Some reflections on philosophical counseling and psychotherapy” in Ran
Lahav (Ed.) Essays on Philosophical Counseling, University Press of America, Lanham – MA, 1995,
p. 97.
50
Ibidem, p. 96.
51
Lou Marinoff, Înghite Platon nu Prozac!, Trei, București, 2009, p. 67.
13 Therapy or Counseling?
377
In the book titled “Plato, not Prozac!”, Marinoff actually fights the tendency
of the American society to exaggerate medical treatment, saying that “Therapy or
counseling is primarily an art” that must be discovered by every practitioner by
specializing in a field
52
.
Marinoff’s advice to the person seeking therapy or counseling is expressed as
follows: “If the root of your problem is of a philosophical nature, nothing on the
pharmacist’s shelf will bring you lasting relief”
53
, motivating his attitude by saying
that life cannot be considered a malady for man, and that they only need therapy or
medical treatment to solve a problem they are facing in life, reason for which he
concludes in his philosophical practice manual that “philosophers and psychiatrists
have considerable potential for dialogue, cooperation, and collaboration.”
54
Referring to psychologists, Lou Marinoff wrote that “the current mainstream
academic preparation in psychology is so unphilosophical”
55
, which leads us to
conclude that there is a need for co-working in this field, in the sense of presenting
within common training programs the tools provided by philosophical practice,
which can be successfully implemented in counseling of the person. We also
consider that the exchange of expertise can take place in both directions, also from
psychology to practitioners specializing in philosophical counseling, in the sense of
teaching them to recognize and identify symptoms or pathologies specific to mental
illness, a situation requiring specialized intervention of a specialist in psychotherapy or
psychiatry.
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Analyzing the characteristics that differentiate them and those that bring them
closer, we can conclude that philosophical practice and psychotherapy are in a
cooperation and competition relationship, which implicitly shows a dialectical
relationship between them, as Gerd Achenbach
56
, considered by practitioners to be
the father of philosophical counseling in Europe.
We also support the opinion expressed by Ran Lahav, a practitioner who
remarked in his writings about philosophical counseling, who considers that a
dichotomous approach to counseling, and the tendency to be merely psychological
or philosophical is not beneficial, and should be considered to be “something which
contains more or less philosophical or psychological elements”
57
. Philosophers can
become philosophical counselors following a training for this practical specialization
of philosophy, but they do not become therapists. Similar, if we think of a
52
Ibidem, p. 85.
53
Ibidem, p. 85.
54
Lou Marinoff, Philosophical Practice, Academic Press, San Diego, 2002, p. 328.
55
Ibidem, p. 330.
56
Gerd Achenbach, op.cit., p. 131.
57
Ran Lahav, op.cit., p. 21.
Vasile Hațegan 14
378
psychologist, they can become a psychotherapist, but not a philosopher, because
they do not have the necessary training for a practitioner of philosophy.
Despite the differences between psychological therapy and philosophical
counseling conducted by a philosophical practitioner, the two areas of activity also
have many common elements, starting from their common origins, deriving from
ancient philosophy. Returning to the ancient philosophers, Seneca is the one who,
in Letter 48 to Lucilius, makes a conclusive remark, expressing concisely the role
of philosophy for humanity by means of a rhetorical question: “Do you want to
know what the philosophy of the human race promises? The good advice”
58
.
In this paper we assume the role of mediator in the relationship between the
two analyzed domains, claiming that both can cooperate in the provision of
counseling for the person, with multiple effects, from therapeutic effects to effects
related to the person’s life vision, which still highlights once the importance of
building and developing interdisciplinary links between philosophical practice and
psychotherapy or other areas of specific human health care.
The future directions of action of philosophical counseling are multiple,
through the diversity of fields and categories of persons to which philosophical
practice can refer, from bioethics to the field of health care, through philosophical
practice that may have the sufferers as well as family members the medical staff
involved in medical decision-making or staff involved in palliative care of the
patient, or counseling in the area of combating addictions of any kind in which
philosophical practice may have subjects besides the addicted person and members
of his family who may benefit from this type of advice from a specialist
59
. All these
directions emphasize once again the interdisciplinary links that philosophical
practice can develop, interfering with these domains. Philosophy, through its practice,
determines a person’s thinking process, which will lead to an improvement of their
attitude towards their life, as concluded by Erica Fiore in her study on the subject,
referring to it as an act of love, expressed thus “making philosophy is an act of love
for oneself: good thinking is to live well”
60
.
Another field to which philosophical counseling is readily applied is the field
of elderly, called seniors, or the field of people with special needs or those with
disabilities, both categories being open to this kind of counseling, where the
practices of specialists in these categories of people have had beneficial results
61
.
On this category of seniors, Canadian practitioner Peter Raabe has another
approach in the sense of learning or understanding of the ageing process of a
58
Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Scrisori către Lucilius (Epistulae morales ad Lucilium), vol. I,
Editura Seneca Lucius Annaeus, București, 2013, p. 178.
59
Vasile Hațegan, “Consilierea filosofică și bioetica, legături interdisciplinare”, in Revista de
Filosofie, Institutul de Filosofie al Academiei Române, București, vol. LXV, no. 5, 2018, p. 449–459.
60
Erica Fiore, “Consulenza filosofica e psicoterapia: uno studio analitico di similitudini e
differenze tra tradizione e innovazion” in Psychofenia, 32/2015, p. 139–182.
61
Vasile Hațegan, Consilierea filosofică: de la practică la profesie, Ars Docendi, București,
2018, p. 215.
15 Therapy or Counseling?
379
person, expressed in the concept of “Learning to be old”
62
, which can also be
applied to the family that takes care of elders, and the effect of practice is mutual,
for all involved.
We conclude that we need more specialists or philosophers
63
to develop a
new program, named Philosophy for all, inside the philosophical counseling
practice, where they will act for all categories of people by age: from children to
parents, young people and adolescents, mature persons, seniors or persons with
special needs and other categories that I have not yet addressed.
Through this approach to philosophical practice, we can say that there is a
real chance for philosophy to descend from the ivory tower of the academy among
people, like the agora of antiquity, truly bringing the love of wisdom to the benefit
of the contemporary man.
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