International Journal of Social Science Research (IJSSR)

Philosophical Counselling in Today’s Society as a Philosophy

The practice of philosophical counselling brings us in touch with the ancient understanding of philosophy as something that the individual could use as a guide to living. Many philosophical counselling techniques make use of Socratic dialogue, Hellenistic philosophy and Indian philosophies to help individuals with the issues of anxiety, guilt, identity confusion and loss of meaning with reasoning and inquiry. The foundation for philosophical counselling, goals, methods and strategies will be discussed based upon material from an extensive 6-month course on counselling from a philosophical perspective. The case presented, will suggest that many human challenges can be framed as philosophical issues rather than as mental health/physical health issues. Therefore, philosophical counselling offers a humane, non-medical and dignified way of allaying human suffering in addition to/and separate from a psychological or clinical perspective of therapy. Keywords: Philosophy counselling, philosophy as a praxis, Socratic method of finding out one's worldview, dealing with existential questions (i.e. what is the meaning of life).