Ran Lahav
I am a philosophical practitioner, working with individuals and self-reflection groups. I received my PhD in philosophy and MA in psychology from the University of Michigan in 1989. I then started teaching philosophy at a university in Texas, but was not satisfied with academic philosophy. In 1992 I started practicing philosophical counseling, and a year later started giving at Haifa University (Israel) the first university course in the world about this field, and continued teaching it for 15 years. In 1994 I initiated the First International Conference on Philosophical Counseling, and co-organized it with Lou Marinoff. In 2014 I envisioned the Agora webpage, and launched it together with my friend and colleague Carmen Zavala from Peru.
I now live quietly in rural Vermont (northeast USA), where I write, walk in nature, and teach online at two universities. I also give workshops on philosophical practice around the world. My publications include two novels in Hebrew, an anthology on philosophical practice in English, two books on philosophical practice in Italian, and more than 30 professional articles.
My professional website is PhiloLife.net
In my last two reflections on this string, I discussed two philosophical conceptions of the meaningful life: by William James and by Gabriel Marcel. They are very different from each other – the first talks about efforts towards a goal, the second about being a witness to the light.
In a previous reflection I said that in order to be "philosophical," a discourse must discuss basic issues of existence. This is a necessary ingredient in any discourse that is philosophical – but it is not enough. Additional ingredients are needed in order to distinguish philosophy from psychology, theology, etc.
I can find in our field two main visions of philosophical practice, and they seem to me radically different from each other. According to one vision, philosophical practice helps clients deal with their personal problems. According to the second vision, philosophical practice encourages people to make their lives deeper and fuller.
Perhaps we disagree on the definition of “philosophy,” but one thing is clear: Philosophy is the kind of discussions written by Plato and Aristotle, Spinoza, Rousseau, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Bergson, and others like them. These writings are central examples of what philosophy is.
- Tell me please, what is “philosophical” in your counseling?
- Well, as a philosophical counselor I don’t impose ideas on my counselees. I don’t express my opinions.
A strange answer. Not expressing your opinions may (or may not) be a good advice. But how is it connected to philosophy – to philosophy as we see it in Plato and Epictetus and Spinoza and Kierkegaard?
In his article “Testimony and Existentialism,” the French philosopher Gabriel Marcel (1889-1973) discusses the meaningful life. His ideas do not develop systematically. They flow like music through a landscape of ideas.
Somebody tells you about a session of philosophical counseling. You listen, and you wonder: But what is “philosophical” in this counseling? Is it philosophical at all?
Plato tells us that we live in a narrow, dark cave, and that philosophy can lead us out to the open world of truth and light.
As philosophical practitioners, we believe that philosophy doesn’t belong only to universities, because it is relevant to everyday life. But relevant how? How can we, philosophical practitioners, use philosophy to touch life, to elevate life, to make a difference to life? In short, what is our vision?
I sit down and read the article "What makes life significant" by the American thinker William James (1842–1910). What am I looking for? A final answer to question of the meaning of life?