The Philosophical Adventure and the Delphic Imperative

---

I approach philosophical therapy or counseling according to the precept inscribed on the Temple of Delphi in ancient Athens gnothis seauton or know thyself. These words were adopted by Socrates as a life-long directive that shaped his philosophical outlook. I work from an existential standpoint, but I also draw from a wide range of ideas from the history of philosophy and literature. I draw from ancient philosophy including stoicism to more recent work in phenomenology, feminism, narrative hermeneutics, ecocriticism and critical theory. 

(image above: Wolfgang Tillmans, Icestorm, 2016)

Philosophical therapy is neither clinically diagnostic nor is its goal to “improve brain functioning” or “behavior” (as stated on the American Psychological Association website). This also means that a visitor will approach philosophical counseling with different reasons and needs than what professional psychology entails. Philosophical practice is both much broader and draws from a deeper history, it provides a safe, open minded space to explore ideas, motivations, conflicts and desires, and it requires the courage to examine deeply held beliefs, and to critically consider what it is, or could mean to be a self in this world. Philosophical practice does not simply end in a 'cure' but rather teaches approaches to thinking and living that inform a lifelong practice. It is to build the foundation for an active mind. An analogy could be made with the active body, or somatic practice in the form of exercise or yoga. In that case too one is never ‘cured’ or simply finished. 

The goal is the practice itself. 

(image above: Hilma af Klint, The Ten Largest, No. 7, Adulthood, Group IV [The age of men] 1907)

  But the focus is not just on the isolated individual. It also involves social, historical, political, theological, material and ideational contexts, always keeping in mind that the self is relational and relationality is situated on many levels and dimensions. Philosophical practice or counseling will always involve active conversation which will often resort more or less to Socratic dialogue. A dialogue is a dialectic which gives a dynamic shape to the practice. This is an ancient approach that builds a way to a relation to the self through questioning the very roots of one’s assumptions and providing a path to achieve a new standpoint. Much like the experience of wandering through the wilderness, this issues both an ongoing and at times unexpected adventure. 

In this sense philosophical counseling is radical. 

(image: Albrecht Dürer, Melencolia I, 1514)