Philosophical Counseling: Theory and Practice [Hardcover]

Peter B. Raabe (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0275970566 | ISBN-13: 978-0275970567 | Publication Date: November 30, 2000

Raabe critiques both existing theoretical conceptions of philosophical counseling and accounts of its practice. He then presents and defends an overarching model of philosophical counseling that captures the best conceptions and reports of practice. The volume begins with an examination of the principles of philosophical counseling as they have been gathered from theoretical normative hypotheses and from accounts of actual practice. Raabe then presents a new model of philosophical counseling based on the combination of principles presented earlier and experiential data from his private practice. The volume concludes with sample cases from his own practice to illustrate the principles at work in a number of different applications of philosophical counseling. Practicing counselers as well as scholars and advanced students of philosophy, psychology, counseling, and educational guidance will find this work of particular importance.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Recommended for all readership levels.”–Choice

“This is an intelligent book which makes a major contribution to the growing literature in philosophical counseling....read this book.”–Analytic Teaching

“This book, perhaps the first attempt at a comprehensive synthesis of approaches to philosophical counseling, is remarkable above all in its clear-headed look at the claims and practices that comprise this new movement, which has sprung unexpectedly from ancient but long dormant roots.”–Practical Philosophy

“Philosophical Counseling is a thorough catalogue of current approaches and methods.”–Philosophy in Review

About the Author

PETER B. RAABE teaches philosophy at Simon Fraser University and University College of the Fraser Valley in Vancouver, Canada.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Publishers (November 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275970566
• ISBN-13: 978-0275970567
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,227,599 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Valuable book, July 12, 2001

By 

Martin Hunt (Vancouver, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philosophical Counseling: Theory and Practice (Hardcover)

Philosophical Counseling is a paradoxical new field that purports to help people with life's problems by engaging them in philosophical discussions. This is paradoxical in a couple of ways. On the one hand, providing assistance with life's difficulties was one of the roots of philosophy, so how can this be a new field? On the other hand, many people, especially many professional philosophers, consider philosophic problems in the year 2001 to be very far removed from the problems of life. Smug within their ivory towers, philosophers have long ago immunized themselves to the charge that their studies are of no earthly use. It brings a smile to outsiders, and causes a commotion among the philosophers, when a philosopher hangs out a shingle offering a useful service for a fee.

One of the central issues that Raabe examines in his book is: How can that fee be ethically justified? In the process of examining this, Raabe provides a broad survey of the field of Philosophical Counseling. Since the field is new, there is little general consensus even as to it's definition. Many of its practitioners use widely differing definitions of Philosophical Counseling in their own work. Raabe offers a critical survey of these various conceptions. Strikingly, Raabe is critical of the "Beyond Method Method" of the movement's founder, Gerd Achenbach.

One man with whom I discussed "Philosophical Counseling - Theory and Practice" said in mock horror, "This is about counseling, not philosophy!" It is about counseling, explicitly and didactically so; the book could serve as an introductory text on counseling, I think. But the book is about philosophy too, for one of Philosophical Counseling's main ideas is that many of the stresses and upsets that people feel grow out of philosophical mistakes or misconceptions.

Philosophical Counseling has a very broad overlap with psychological counseling. Many methods of psychological counseling, such as Cognitive Therapy and Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, deal extensively with philosophic ideas in their practice. Part of Raabe's task is to find something that would in fact distinguish Philosophical Counseling from other already well established forms of counseling, and also to find a task that Philosophical Counseling can perform better than psychological counseling.

Very broadly, the divide that Raabe finds is the one between therapy and education. Sometimes something is wrong with us; our leg is broken, we're attacked by germs, chemical structures in our brains are upset - these are all clearly medical problems. At other times, we just don't understand right, or we just don't know how to do something; we get wet feet because we don't know the tide is rising, we can't cross the water because we can't find the bridge. These are clearly educational problems. One might imagine a boundary between medicine and education; a place where the influence of the structure of the body blends with the influence of ideas to determine things like our various capabilities, aptitudes and attitudes, as well as our experience of happiness with our existence. One side of that boundary is the terrain of the psychologist, the other side of that boundary is the terrain of the philosopher.

I'm not a philosopher or a counselor, but I found Raabe's book both an interesting read and a wealth of information. I'm not an insider to the growing Philosophical Counseling movement, but I understand that the challenges that Raabe has raised are controversial in many quarters. But as Raabe says, unless the movement can properly and ethically establish just what it's practice is, it will be threatened by charlatans.

7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Psychology., August 11, 2001

By 

Dr. Francis A Olivo - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philosophical Counseling: Theory and Practice (Hardcover)

"Empty is the argument of any philosopher who doesn't relieve any human suffering." Epicurus (341-271BC)Philosophy is different than psychology. Psychology looks at controlled scientific experiments to find out how the mind reacts to society. Philosophy is concerned with the conceptional questions like what reality? A psychologist would examine mental illness by asking the client questions. A philosopher would ask, "What is mental Illness?" Two different worlds. You cannot just blindly do what a psychologist tells you to be cured. You must philosophically think about what the problem is in the first place....Regards Frank...