Philosophy has always raised questions and offered venues for discussion that challenge ordinary assumptions on all matters of human understanding. And yet surprisingly this discipline has been perceived as abstract, uninviting, impractical and direly impenetrable. Philosophical practice, and philosophical counseling in particular, steps in to alter this skewed perspective and bring it back to the arena of everyday life and living. This dialectical counselee-counselor interchange is not fixed upon defining the “truth” as some abstract, impersonal depiction of reality now and forever. Rather it is a conversation that nurtures a rational self-reflective understanding of all contending value-laden beliefs that have taken hold of one’s consciousness.
Philosophical practice is neither diagnostic nor prognostic. Unlike counselors of the psychological variety, we, as philosophers are firmly affixed to the transformative impact of our art.
Elly Pirocacos
I am a professor of philosophy presently on leave from the American College of Greece and Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Education, Department of Integrated Studies in Education, at McGill University. My research is focused on working out the inter-subjectivity of dialogical engagement to address fundamental epistemological issues with regards to counseling and teaching methods. I have a practice in philosophical counseling in Montreal, Canada and am secretary to CSPP (the Canadian Society for Philosophical Practice).