FOCUS Apr-00 Philosophical Counseling

Most people sooner or later experience dilemmas or uncertainties involving questions of meaning, purpose, value, and fulfillment. Such questions emerge in the context of relationships, career, momentous change, personal responsibility, aspiration or disappointment, and decision-making under risk or potential conflict of interest. Normal problems of living are not regarded as “diseases”; rather, they are seen as opportunities for self-improvement, enhancement of self-understanding, or acquiescence to circumstances beyond one’s control. People with medical problems need medical attention; people with emotional or affective disorders need psychological attention; but people with burning questions about meaning, purpose, value, goodness, and justice need philosophical attention. Philosophical counseling, as defined by the American Philosophical Practitioners Association (APPA), is an educational approach, rather than a medical one, to resolving or managing some of life’s problems. It is that branch of philosophical practice that engages the client, through dialogue with the counselor, in constructive explorations and reinterpretations of his or her belief system in order to find or modify a philosophical disposition that works for the client’s interests. There are many ways of implementing philosophical counseling, but no universal method exists. (It is like asking, “How does one bake a cake?”) The counselor can conduct an open-ended philosophical inquiry with his or her client in the Socratic style of seeking truth and exposing falsehood. The counselor can offer a particular philosophical position that suits his or her client’s needs, relying on sources ranging from Aristotle to Ayn Rand. Or the counselor can employ a specific philosophical counseling method, examples of which have been published in Plato Not Prozac!2. Philosophical counseling is both an art form and a dialogue, and each counselor— and each client-counselor relationship—is different. What they all hold in common is the philosophical basis of their exploration: rational understanding of oneself, the world, and one’s place in it. Philosophical counseling can also be helpful in tandem with medical treatment. Coping with illness, living with restrictions imposed by demanding regimens, balancing quality versus quantity of life, reconciling faith with doubt, confronting a person’s own mortality, or grieving the passing of a loved one are scenarios deeply grounded in philosophical considerations. Developing a useful philosophical perspective in such cases may be the most important endeavor after actual medical care. In dire cases, where death is imminent or foreseen, it may be the only thing worth doing with the remainder of one’s life. Unlike stereotypical philosophy professors, who sometimes cultivate profound thoughts at the expense of interpersonal skills and more directly useful approaches, philosophical counselors have developed new applications for their disciplinary tools. Combining philosophical insights with professional counseling techniques, they seek to induce from their clients what Aristotle called “phronesis,” or practical wisdom. The purpose of this article is to introduce philosophical counseling to the broad spectrum of counselors who work with HIV-infected clients and who may apply or adapt philosophical perspectives to their own modalities. Inducing Wisdom: Philosophical Counseling for HIV-Positive Clients