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Philosophy Practice: An Alternative to Counseling and Psychotherapy

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Review: Shlomit Schuster; Philosophy Practice: An Alternative to Counseling and Psychotherapy

Modern philosophical counseling started in the beginning of the 1980's when Gerd Achenbach opened his practice in Cologne, Germany. Since then philosophical counseling has spread all over the world and there are approximately over two hundred philosophical counselors giving philosophical advice and discussing various philosophical issues with clients. While the media has paid attention to this quite new phenomena many academic philosophers and other professionals in counseling are not so enthusiastic about this new form of philosophy. Shlomit Schuster's book Philosophy Practice: An Alternative to Counseling and Psychotherapy is a long awaited English introduction to philosophical counseling and the practice of understanding life in all its richness with the aid of philosophy. Schuster's book is not the only one published recently on the topic but unlike its competitor, Lou Marinoff's Plato not Prozac, it is not only directed at potential clients but to a critical and philosophically educated public as well. The book starts with tearing down a common presupposition about philosophical counseling on a topic which is scrutinized throughout the book namely the prejudice that philosophical counseling is a hybrid of philosophy and psychology or psychotherapy. "Many people who think, speak, and write about philosophical practitioners refer to them as though they were therapists in the usual sense of the term", Schuster writes and devotes the first chapter of this book to oppose that particular idea. And Schuster succeeds in proving her point by demonstrating that the relationship between counselor and counselee is dialogical and dialectic not authoritative and hierarchical. The first, theoretical, part of the book focuses on the historical setting of philosophical practice, contemporary philosophical practice and the justification of the nonclinical approach of philosophical counseling. These issues are related in that the false assumptions that philosophical counseling is a form of therapy and that life-problems should be treated by psychologist rests on the uncritical medicalisation of everyday problems. Schuster defends her case with interesting and illuminating examples as well as referring to a wide range of psychological and philosophical sources. The second part deals with case histories from Schuster's own practice. It is quite surprising to find out that the cases and the problems discussed do not differ from what one probably would meet in psychotherapist or psychiatrist practices. For instance "Daniel" suffers from insomnia, "Simone" from alienation and "William" from nightmares. Schuster's does not treat problems as illnesses and occasionally she even points out that what is thought of as a problem is often only that by reference to a certain conception of it, imposed upon the client by others. Of the many approaches to philosophical counseling that are presented, Schuster defends Achenbach's understanding of philosophical counseling as an open-ended inquiry. Schuster writes that the significance of "philosophy consultations is that instead of classifying the visitors' problematic situations as complexes or deviations, the consulting philosopher considers their situation unique, and for that reason not to be understood through generalizations or reduction." The philosopher's task is, according to Schuster, to help the counselee or visitor to think through her situation and replace the problem with philosophical understanding. Unfortunately I do not have the space to go into details, readers have to take my word that Schuster succeeds to show the importance of philosophical understanding of life-problems or problems in life. Besides being an introduction to philosophical counseling "Philosophy Practice" also has something to say about the nature of philosophy itself. It invites to think through topics such as "truth", "understanding" , and "wisdom". As a researcher in philosophy I strongly recommend Schuster's book to everyone interested in philosophical counseling, philosophers and students of philosophy and professionals in other fields of counseling as well. An extra plus must be added for the fluent and entertaining style.

Sebastian Slotte, researcher Department of Philosophy University of Helsinki E-mail: sebastian.slotte@helsinki.fi

Dr. Schuster provides the world with an impressive explanation and justification of the original philosophical counseling method. Other books that use the concept "philosophical counseling," hardly describe or understand the deep issues found in the work of the main originator of this new field of practice, Dr. Gerd Achenbach. In a clear, erudite, and well argued manner Dr. Schuster addresses the relevant theoretical and practical issues. Besides the short practice examples, there are case histories showing how effective Achenbach's method is for the resolving of problems people usually discuss with psychologists, psychiatrists and other care givers.

The method used in this book is the foundation stone to the whole philosophical practice movement; this book is unique in its vivid clarification of these basics. The challenging and questioning nature of the material makes it a very useful book, for lay persons and professionals alike.
Philosophy Practice: An Alternative to Counseling and Psychotherapy has been translated and published in several languages, as have been several other texts from this great female author. This exciting book is highly recommended to all who like to think about their own and other peoples' problems from a philosophical and dialogical perspective.

Schuster's stated aim in this work is to provide a report on practicing philosophy in counseling sessions with individuals, and to interest a public unschooled in philosophy, as well as philosophers and scholars from other disciplines. (pp.3-4)

In the first chapter, Schuster gives the reader a brief preview of his topics in subsequent chapters. He also discusses the similarities and differences between philosophical counseling and other therapeutic practices like psychotherapy and medicine. Unlike therapy or medicine, philosophy practice does not view the person as a "patient" who is ill and in need of cure- or even as a patient at all, for that matter. Rather, the person coming in for consultation is viewed as a fellow philosopher, and counseling sessions are "only an invitation to philosophize, and this for its own sake..." (23). Beneficial changes are welcome of course, but they are not the goal per se of philosophical counseling. Rather, on Schuster's view the goal of philosophical counseling is to help the individual better understand the problem he or she is facing.

Judging by the title of the second chapter -i.e., "Classical Instances of Philosophy as Practice," Schuster was supposed to set out a somewhat brief history of philosophical counseling. Oddly enough, only the first eight or so pages are concerned with the history of philosophy as a practice. The balance of this 41-page chapter deals with the views of several living European philosophical counselors. While on one level it might be nice to get a feel for how modern-day philosophical counselors view their practice and its place in society, Schuster's repeated and cursory references to other authors and their views in this chapter probably won't at all interest people who aren't already familiar with the topic.

Chapter three, entitled "Philosophical Care," begins with a history of philosophical counseling and for the first 18 pages it's pretty darned interesting- arguably the most useful pages in the book. Unfortunately, Schuster soon returns to his already tired shtick of quoting and rehashing the views of people that most of us have probably never heard of. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but this chapter and the previous one have a sort of "undergraduate research report" feel to them in which the student packs the paper full of famous names and brief statements of their views but does very little to summarize, much less evaluate, the issues at hand.

Chapter four is about 10 pages long, and it's essentially on various philosophers' and psychologists' views on the importance of narrative in general and writing one's autobiography in particular. It seems to function as a sort of extended introduction to the case histories found in the remaining chapters. Pretty bland.

Chapters five through twelve are descriptions of case studies in philosophical counseling, presumably to give the reader a first-hand feel for what a philosophical counseling experience is like. After slogging through chapters two through four, these chapters are somewhat interesting. However, they might have been better if Schuster had provided a bit more commentary on why he approached each situation the way he did.

The final chapter is more or less a five-page summary of earlier points (e.g., the importance of philosophers as a means of critically examining medical and psychological health policies and practices and the differences between philosophical counseling and psychotherapy).

This is the first book I've ever read on philosophical counseling, and I'm still interested in pursuing the subject further, but no thanks to this book, unfortunately. As I mentioned earlier, Schuster's repeated and cursory references to other authors and their views won't do a thing for people who aren't already familiar with them. The reader will be left slogging through chapters two through four, by and large ignoring the details to get the gist of Schuster's point(s).

I think a better approach for the initial chapter(s) of this book would have been to concentrate more on how, with the exception of the Western world's brief fling with logical positivism and analytic philosophy in the strict sense (i.e. as an analysis of language), philosophical speculation has always been viewed as conducive to the good life. In doing so, Schuster could have made more use of his time through more careful interaction with ancient, medieval, and modern philosophers. From there, he could have spent a chapter summarizing the ways that current philosophical counselors carry out their profession, and then finished with some case studies.

With these things in mind, I cannot recommend this book. It may be of benefit to people who are already well-versed in the philosophical counseling movement, but it is definitely not something for those who are interested in becoming philosophical counselors themselves, or for people who are simply curious about how philosophy might help their own lives. However, this is not to say that there is no value in it at all for such people, which is why I gave it two stars. If, after reading this review, a person still wants to read the book, I suggest they read chapter 1; chapter 2 pages 27-34; chapter 3 pages 71-90; and the counseling sessions described in chapters 5-12.


Post Script: Despite the overall blandness and mediocrity of many aspects of this book, there are a few choice paragraphs here and here. Here is one particular paragraph with which I couldn't agree more:

"The professionalism of twentieth-century philosophy seems to have greatly contributed in making philosophy into a technical issue that is devoid of meaning for the majority of people. Furthering the academic professionalization of philosophy practice will very likely deplete it from its revolutionary ethos and turn it into a highly professional discourse that actually contributes little. Needed is not the professionalization but the humanization of philosophy and its practice." (47)

Iyyun, The Jerusalem Philosophical Quarterly 49 July 2000): 333-339.
Prof. Jerome Gellman

"This book is an impressive explanation and justification of the growing
profession of philosophical practice. In it, Shlomit Schuster offers
philosophical practice as an alternative to psychological therapy.

Clear, erudite, and well argued, this work grants the reader a lucid
understanding of this new practice and its rationale. Philosophers, in
particular, will gain by discovering here a fresh employment of philosophy that raises questions about their understanding of the enterprise in which they engage."

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International Journal of Philosophical Practice 1:1 (2001).
Prof. Petra von Morstein

"Shlomit Shuster's book on philosophical practice is the clearest, most comprehensive and authentic work in the -as yet very small-body of contemporary literature on the subject that I have come accross so far"

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Practical Philosophy 4, 1 (2001) 55-56.

Susan E. Wright

"Schuster is always thoughtful in her presentation of her own and other people's ideas. I was struck by the breath of her reading, and where I had knowledge of her material, by the depth of her insights."

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Journal of the Society of Existential Analysis 12:1 (2001).
Kathy Parson

"The challenging and questioning nature of the material makes it a very useful book, not only for existential psychotherapists but for us all"

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American Journal of Psychiatry 159 (2002): 1075-1076.
Prof. Christoph Mundt

"The narratives illustrate the spirits and intentions of philosophy practice very well. The main impression is the gain of coherence, reconciliation with those features of the self, the life history, or the situation with which the individual has been cross, which is helped greatly by the avoidance of "psychopathologization" of problems.

To sum up my impression of this book, there are useful intentions and
procedures outlined in philosophy practice, foremost among them putting the client's problem into a wider frame of philosophical aporias."

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[Association of Humanistic Psychology] AHP Perspective Magazine, JUNE/JULY 2001, p. 24
Prof. Maurice Friedman

"Schuster's book should be of great interest to every humanistic psychologist."


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American Journal of Psychotherapy 54:2 (2000) 271-272.
R. Andrew Schultz-Ross

"All in all, the book is provocative, [and] interesting ...."


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Israel Journal of Psychiatry 39, 1 (2002) 68-69.

Rachael Chazan

"There is much to learn from this book."


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The Canberra Times, July 8, 2000
Panorama p. 23.

Prof. George Stern

"Written in a warm, reflective style, it is both a
reasoned critique of standard psychotherapeutic methods and a convincing
exposition of philosophical practice. But beneath the lucid narrative
of the book you also glimpse profound scholarship and a sharp intellect."

i love this book and i do not understand why this book was not written before.