Philosophical counseling

Philosophical counseling is multifaceted. It not only provides a logical analysis of the particular issue at hand, but more importantly, it explores the relation of the particular problem to the wider belief system governing our behaviour and our wellbeing.

Philosophical counselling is not a new phenomenon. It is a practice that runs through the history of the philosophical tradition right the way back to Socrates, Aristotle, Plato and before. Academic philosophy as it is thought today in the universities would be barely recognizable to a philosophical practitioner such as Socrates. Philosophy for the ancient Greeks was not a practice divorced from living, but rather a living practice in the pursuit of truth, justice, authenticity, human flourishing, the good society and the nature of reality to highlight a few central concerns. While there was a focus on the tools of rationality to aid in such an endeavour, philosophical practice did not remain a purely intellectual exercise, but rather transformed the participant's way of viewing the world, and ultimately, his or her very way of being.