In today's commercialized society, in a reality of stressing practical results and realizing value, the application or utility of philosophy has always been a problem. Why can the "philosophy of uselessness" prevail? The fundamental reason is that philosophy itself is often out of touch with reality.
On the one hand, compared with modern science and technology, philosophy is obviously useless and can only admit defeat; On the other hand, since the Middle Ages, philosophy has gradually entered the college wall and become completely academic, rarely providing practical wisdom for the world.
Today, philosophy is basically equivalent to academic research, which only exists in university classrooms, academic seminars and theoretical publications. Of course, philosophers don't live in a paradise. They are also actively responding to the changes in reality and constantly seeking ways to break through philosophy.
As the mainstream of modern and contemporary western philosophy, phenomenology, analytical philosophy, structuralism and western Marxism (summarized by Habermas, a famous contemporary German philosopher) are all trying to transform philosophy and give play to its critical role.
However, in the face of the increasingly prominent mental health problems of modern people, if we compare various popular psychotherapy (including art therapy, drama therapy, music therapy, talk therapy, etc. ), these philosophies are still out of touch with daily life. The original thought therapy function of philosophy is hard to find in today's philosophy.
As a result, in Germany, France, the United States, Canada, Britain and other western countries, in recent years, there has been a "philosophical consultation" that applies philosophy to daily life problems. As a contemporary development form of applied philosophy, can "philosophical consultation" shoulder the heavy responsibility of practical philosophy?
According to the optimistic view of L. Malinov, an important representative of "philosophical consultation" active in the United States:
"If we want to live a free life, it depends on our political system and our firm defense of freedom; If we want to live a long life, it depends on our genes and the quality of our medical care; If we want to have a rational, noble, upright, happy and beautiful life, it depends on our philosophy and our philosophical practice. Examining our life with thoughts is a better life and an attainable life. Read Plato, don't take psychologists' pills! " ①
Simply put, "philosophical consultation" is to help people solve all kinds of ideological puzzles with philosophical ideas and methods. P.B. Raber, who is engaged in "philosophical consultation" in Canada (he was the first scholar to obtain a doctorate with "philosophical consultation" as the research topic) once defined "philosophical consultation" with several "no":
It is not academic philosophy, it is not philosophy teaching, it is not psychotherapy, it is not a scientific attempt, it is not a casual conversation, it is not a religious activity.
On the positive side, philosophical consultation is a practical activity of philosophy, that is, using various philosophical methods to help people cope with various problems in life, especially some ideological problems. According to Socrates' ancient teaching, a philosopher is like a midwife, whose purpose is to help people reach rational judgment.
For all kinds of problems in life, we are used to asking others for advice, which should be the original form of all kinds of ideological consultation. Consultation in a non-strict sense refers to consulting parents, elders, teachers and friends in daily life. In the past, we could also consult those intellectual elites such as wise men, saints and priests.
Nowadays, the pace of life is getting faster and faster, and many things are becoming more and more complicated. Even parents, elders, teachers and friends feel at a loss. At the same time, the wise ceased to exist, the sages were knocked down, and the role of priests was greatly weakened.
We only need to consult professionals, so various consulting industries have sprung up rapidly. Whether it is personal love, marriage and family affairs or our career choice, investment and financial activities, we need to consult a career counselor.
It is the commercialization process of modern society that breeds all kinds of psychological problems and also gives birth to all kinds of consulting services. Among them, psychological counseling and psychotherapy are the most popular counseling services, because modern people have too many negative emotions to overcome, such as anxiety, depression, loneliness and despair.
Since psychological counseling can be unimpeded through some philosophical theories, why don't philosophers directly deal with the increasingly serious mental health problems?
Perhaps it is against this background that some scholars with philosophical practice desire began to launch their own "philosophical consultation" projects, trying to apply philosophy to personal daily life and group interpersonal relationships.
Philosophy began to intervene in ordinary people's lives with the attitude of ideological consultation and life consultant, such as helping a woman whose marriage failed to extricate herself from the pain, making a person who tried to commit suicide give up the idea of self-destruction, solving problems encountered in life for middle-aged people, and assisting the company in building corporate culture.
In the activity of "philosophical consultation", philosophy is closely related to people's daily life problems, thus showing the original practical orientation of philosophical wisdom.
Because of the different understanding and application of practitioners, "philosophical consultation" certainly has different names. For example, the use of "philosophical consultation", "philosophical practice", "philosophical consultation", "philosophical guidance", philosophical counseling, philosophical therapy, clinical philosophy, experimental philosophy and so on.
However, the more common terms are "philosophical consultation" and "philosophical practice". When philosophy begins to go out of the classroom and put down its narcissistic attitude to study and deal with ideological problems in daily life, it will first arouse the suspicion of ordinary people: can philosophy really provide beneficial solutions to mental health problems of individuals and society? Can philosophy produce practical benefits as a consulting service?
Secondly, "philosophical counseling" will also be opposed by psychological counseling practitioners out of professional interest: without special training, philosophical counselors can't distinguish serious mental illness, which will naturally mislead or delay patients' treatment.
Finally, philosophical consultation is not recognized by academic philosophers, because in their view, the practical application of philosophy will inevitably lead to the vulgarization of philosophy. Therefore, "philosophical consultation" should try its best to prove its efficacy and orientation from the beginning.
Philosophical Consultation has always claimed that it is the revival of ancient philosophical practice tradition and the inheritance of Socrates' dialogue. Can the traditional philosophical form be revived today? For a long time, philosophy has become book knowledge under the modern academic system. Can it reconnect thoughts with life?
In fact, the biggest problem encountered in philosophical consultation is how to draw a clear line with psychological consultation. Judging from the current methods of philosophical counseling, it is difficult to completely distinguish it from psychological counseling. As far as the means and methods of psychological counseling are concerned, today's psychological counseling often uses a lot of philosophical content, and many psychological counseling are actually variations of some philosophical practices.
For example, existential therapy is to apply existential theory to help people with psychological problems realize their freedom and responsibility, so that people can bravely face their own life choices and practical difficulties; As far as the object of consultation is concerned, some "visitors" are often in a vague state. For example, in the face of a person who tries to commit suicide, is philosophical counseling effective or psychological counseling effective? There is a problem of distinguishing between "consultation" and "treatment".
What psychological problems just need psychological counseling? What psychological problems still need treatment? P.B. Raber, a Canadian philosophy consultant, believes that most mental health problems can be solved through consultation, and only a small part needs treatment. Of course, there are also some psychological problems that require both counseling and treatment.
It can be said that "philosophical consultation" mainly deals with the confusion and contradiction brought about by the conflict of ideas; "Psychological consultation" focuses on the treatment of mental disorders, which are often caused by various psychological "complexes".
To put it simply, "philosophical consultation" is a conscious exchange of ideas, and "psychological consultation" is more of an unconscious motivation analysis.
Therefore, philosophy counselors always emphasize that "mediation means meditation rather than treatment" (mediation means treatment).
Between philosophical counseling and psychological counseling, there can be the following differences:
First of all, "philosophical consultation" takes the form of "dialogue" rather than "diagnosis". The relationship between counselors and visitors is equal, and there is no relationship between instruction and obedience.
Secondly, "philosophical consultation" does not regard the visitor as a patient, but as a sane person who can communicate and talk. The basic form of "philosophical consultation" is a free and full dialogue between consultants and visitors.
Thirdly, philosophy consultants will not condescend to talk about profound philosophical principles or simply teach visitors from the perspective of Plato or Kant, provide them with some ready-made answers, and even make choices instead of visitors.
Finally, the biggest difference from psychological counseling is that "philosophical counseling" never pesters visitors' privacy and past experiences, and there is no need to have private conversations in hiding. On the contrary, it can be discussed in public places and inspire tourists to take a future-oriented attitude as an important principle to actively change their lives.
Therefore, in addition to one-on-one conversation, philosophical consultation can also be conducted in groups (such as government consultation, company consultation, children consultation, etc.). ), the "philosophy cafe" activities in France and other places are proof.
As an applied philosophy or practical philosophy, "philosophical consultation" officially appeared in the early 1980s, and it is generally believed that German scholar Gerd Aschenbach took the lead in raising this banner. 198 1 year, he founded the world's first consulting institution called "philosophical practice" in cologne, and publicly hung up the signboard of "philosophical consultation". He also founded the German Society for Philosophical Practice, which was renamed the IGPP International Society for Philosophical Practice after some development. With the aim of promoting "philosophical consultation", this association actively carried out international exchanges and cooperation, and founded the theoretical publication Agora (originally meant as a place for citizens to debate in ancient Greece), which was officially renamed Zeitsschrift Fur Philosophische Praxis.
In his important book "Philosophical Practice", Sembach proposed that "philosophical life consultation" could be used as an alternative to psychotherapy. Subsequently, "philosophical consultation" developed rapidly in western countries.
In the United States, philosophy consultant Malinov published "Want Plato not to be omnipotent-the application of philosophy in everyday problems" (Plato, not Prozac! -applying philosophy to everyday problems), Philosophical Practice and other works;
In Canada, P. Raber published Philosophical Consultation: Theory and Practice and Problems in Philosophical Consultation.
In Britain, consultant Tim Lebon (President of the British Association of Applied Philosophy) published a book "Wise Therapy". Other active philosophical consultants are S. Schuster, whose masterpiece is Philosophical Practice: Alternatives to Counseling and Psychotherapy.
Marc Sautet, a Frenchman, is the initiator of the Philosophy Cafe Movement, and his masterpiece is Unfcafé pour socrate.
They set up various consulting organizations in the name of philosophical consultation, and established related professional associations, such as the German International Association of Philosophical Practice (IGPP), the American Association of Philosophical Practitioners (APPA), the American Association of Philosophy, Counseling and Psychotherapy (ASCPP), the Canadian Association of Philosophical Practice (NSPP) and the Canadian Association of Philosophical Practice.
These associations hold regular meetings, communicate with their peers, and set up professional online websites for philosophical consultation. 1994, the first international philosophical consultation was held in Canada. More than 100 philosophers and consultants from 18 countries and regions attended the meeting and published their latest practical achievements. In recent years, Japan, Singapore and other Asian countries have also set up some "philosophy consulting" institutions.
In a sense, the rise of "philosophical consultation" is related to the mental health of modern people. Psychological counseling and psychotherapy are popular in western countries, which makes western society almost a "therapeutic society".
There are more and more kinds of mental disorders and mental diseases, which are directly related to the increasing pressure of people's lives and the professional interest of psychiatrists.
According to an American psychiatric classification, 1952 contains 1 12 kinds of mental diseases; 1968 increased to 163 species; 1980 is 224 species; 1994 has become 374 species. In the 1980s, psychiatrists estimated that there were 65,438+0 mental patients in every 65,438+00 Americans. By the 1990s, there were 1 mental patients in every two Americans.
Also, in Chinese mainland, 20 1 1, the news media published the research reports of relevant institutions, saying that about 6,543.8+3 billion people in China have psychological problems in different degrees. According to this statistic, isn't there 1 person with mental illness in China?
Of course, we can see all kinds of psychological problems in real life. Although people's material desires have been more satisfied, people's psychology is constantly experiencing problems.
When the scientific and technological civilization shook the prestige of God, the role of church priests was diluted, and people who felt anxious and depressed had to turn to psychologists. It is in this context that "philosophical consultation" appears in front of the world with a gesture of returning to the original and starting a new one.
As early as more than two thousand years ago, Socrates, an ancient Greek philosopher, initiated the practical form of philosophy by means of "dialogue", with the aim of distinguishing right from wrong through "philosophical dialogue" and making the world better "know itself" and "care about itself".
He goes to the Athens market every day to discuss life issues such as "happiness", "life and death" and even "kindness" with others in public places. Epicurus emphasized that philosophy is a kind of "therapy for the soul" and a knowledge that serves life practice. Seneca clearly put forward the concept of philosophical consultation, thinking that philosophy is to help people face poverty, wealth and death.
He put it this way: "What will philosophy bring to mankind? It's counseling. When one person is facing death and the other is facing poverty, they can find hope and help from philosophy. " ④
Today, the goal of "philosophical consultation" is to play the role of ideological consultant, give play to the ideological therapy function of philosophy itself, and help individuals or groups to solve various ideological problems. In fact, the problems in daily life are more ideological problems. To solve ideological problems, of course, we need to adopt ideological methods.
For example, those ethical and moral problems, epistemological problems and outlook on life are actually problems of thinking deviation or concept choice.
As far as philosophical consultation is concerned, it is of course impossible to make a clinical diagnosis of the visitors according to medical methods, because the visitors have no physical illness or mental abnormality, and there is always some confusion and confusion in their minds just because of the conceptual conflict caused by problems in daily life.
Therefore, the object of philosophical consultation is very different from the object of psychological consultation, which is mainly aimed at individual visitors and company organizations with normal psychology.
What is more unique is the "Philosophy Cafe" run by French M. Souter. As a popular form of "philosophy consultation", "philosophy cafe" is not a philosophy lecture activity, but an ideological debate with philosophers as the moderator or coordinator.
The main dialogue mode of philosophy consultation is that philosophy consultants use their own philosophical resources to have a dialogue with visitors, discuss the problems encountered by visitors and put forward possible choices.
In this process, a philosophical consultant can quote the viewpoint of a philosopher or philosophical school, such as Nietzsche's Superman theory, Sartre's free choice theory and the four truths of Buddhism. Visitors can also be recommended to read Aristotle's Nicokal Ethics, Heidegger's Being and Time or Laozi's Tao Te Ching.
Therefore, "philosophical consultation" requires a high theoretical reserve for a philosophical consultant. He not only needs to have good communication skills, but also is very familiar with various philosophical viewpoints in the history of philosophy, and can easily grasp various opinions of philosophers or philosophical factions in different periods on life issues.
Aschenbach once said that there is no unified method for "philosophical consultation", but only an open dialogue method, which he called "a method beyond method".
Aschenbach's "philosophical practice" is to provide consulting services for those who are willing to seek philosophical help, and choose different ways to enter the dialogue completely according to the specific problem scenarios of visitors.
The so-called "methods other than methods" means not to put a predetermined psychological type on the "client" like psychotherapy and proceed step by step according to certain treatment procedures.
Philosophical consultation should not be defined by the thoughts and concepts of a philosopher or some philosophers, and there should be no fixed, closed and rigid consultation methods. Philosophical counselors and visitors have a one-on-one sincere dialogue, and both sides should open their hearts to eliminate prejudice.
Through sincere dialogue, we can gradually clarify the meaning of existence. Visitors turn to "philosophical consultation" to seek explanations or answers to life problems. Philosophical consultants can't impose their own understanding of the problem on visitors, because the purpose of philosophical consultation is to open up the ideological space, not to block the ideological activities.
The positive result of consulting visitors with philosophical consultation should be to arouse their enthusiasm and confidence in life, not to give them a standard answer or final conclusion.
However, in the practice of "philosophical consultation", philosophical consultants are constantly summing up experience and trying to extract some effective consulting methods. Here we cite Malinov's "Peace" and P. Raber's "Fete" as two modes of philosophical consultation, so as to understand the specific implementation steps of philosophical consultation.
Malinov's "calm method" is divided into five steps: the first step is to find out the "problem" of ideological conflict. In life, the death of parents and relatives, divorce of husband and wife, betrayal of friends and contradictions at work will all cause mental pain. In the conflict of inner thoughts, various factors are often intertwined, which leads to ideological contradictions and is difficult to resolve.
Therefore, the primary task of philosophical consultation is to find the source of the problem. The second step is to grasp the "emotion" caused by the problem.
This is an internal process of reflection. Consciously thinking about your own sadness and anger, so as to achieve the purpose of releasing emotions, is the only process of philosophical consultation.
The third step is "analyzing" the way out. Now that the annoying problem has been found and the mood has eased, we must choose the way to solve the problem.
There are always many options for solving problems, which requires analysis and practical methods.
The fourth step is to make a necessary "overview" of your living conditions. For all kinds of problems in real life, whether personal or social, we can't just see the forest for the trees. We need to look at all aspects of life from a philosophical perspective, that is, we need a world outlook and outlook on life that can guide life.
The fifth step is to achieve the "balance" of thoughts.
When the problem is grasped and the prospect of life is clear, the mind will settle down and move towards "peace". The combination of these five steps is the first letter of the word, which happens to be "peace", that is, "peace".
In Raber's "Fett" consulting method, the first letter "F" stands for "free floating", which means to relieve mood and pressure, so as to achieve "free floating" of thoughts. In the dialogue process of philosophy consultation, the duty of philosophy consultant is to let visitors get rid of the shadow in their hearts as much as possible, eliminate the original prejudice, overcome the conflict of ideas and relieve the mental pressure of visitors.
The second letter "I" stands for "instant problem solving", which means urging visitors to jump out of the trap of the problem and find the answer to it. Once the visitor has an idea to solve the problem, the philosophy consultant can move on to the next step.
The third letter "T" stands for "teaching is an intentional act", which means that philosophy consultants teach some philosophical theories and provide some tools for visitors to change their self-righteous thinking inertia.
The fourth letter "T" stands for "transcendence", which means that the mind is no longer addicted to the past and present, but faces the future life with a detached attitude. Rabe particularly emphasized the therapeutic function of philosophy, because philosophy can enhance individual self-understanding and personal happiness.
The essence of philosophical consultation is visitor-centered, and its method is completely open. Philosophical consultation can't be limited to a certain philosophical theory, but should adopt an attitude of learning from others and let visitors change their way of thinking.
As a practical philosophy, "philosophical consultation" does not start from scratch. In fact, philosophical consultation has a very long historical tradition. As mentioned above, ancient Greek philosophy has very distinct practical characteristics. The original philosophy used philosophical thoughts to deal with "human problems" instead of arguing about "philosopher problems".
Philosophers should be doctors of thought and consultants of life. Etymologically, psychotherapy is a combination of two Greek words, psukhe and therapeuein. The meanings of these two words have nothing to do with medicine: psukhe means soul and breathing, while therapeuein means attention and care.
In the ancient philosophical tradition, philosophical thinking is mainly regarded as a thinking activity that leads to a happy life. Socrates likes to use his dialectics to help people clarify concepts and make people lose their self-righteous thinking habits. He just wants people to think more clearly and live more clearly.
In ancient times, it was common for philosophers or wise men to be political consultants, military consultants and life consultants.
Being a consultant to others seems to be the main practical activity of ancient philosophers. Although the situation today is very different from that in ancient times, is philosophy useless? Doesn't the world need philosophy?
Today, the development of business ethics and medical ethics, the popularity of existentialism in psychotherapy, and the bestsellers such as Chicken Soup for the Soul in the market, including the mass publication of popular philosophical books in China in recent years, are all good examples. These phenomena show that philosophy plays an irreplaceable role.
Everyone will form some "heart knots" that are hard to get rid of, and these problems are often ineffective only by drugs, because "heart disease" can only be improved by "heart" and ideological problems can only be solved by thinking.
As Dewey, a pragmatic philosopher, argued, philosophy should work as a midwife appointed by Socrates 2500 years ago. Philosophy from speculation to practice, from learning to life, has not reduced the dignity of philosophy. To change the status quo, philosophy "must be operable and experimental".
According to Dewey's pragmatic view, life itself is experimental, so thought should also adopt experimental methods. The theoretical basis and method system of "philosophical consultation" are still in the final stage, but "returning to Socrates" is a very clear direction.
Simply put, philosophical consultation is to revive the practical tradition of ancient philosophy and closely link it with real life. Therefore, the primary task of "philosophical consultation" is to tap the ideological resources of ancient philosophy and absorb the nutrients necessary for its own development from the history of philosophy.
Malinov once listed a list of philosophical resources for us to adopt:
There were Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, protagoras, Seneca and Augustine in ancient times, Confucius, Laozi, Zhuangzi and grandson in China, Bacon, Becker, Hobbes, Descartes, Hume, Locke, Leibniz, Spinoza, Rousseau, Kant and Hegel in modern times, and Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche in modern times.
As for the possibility of Chinese mainland's "philosophical consultation", we should not only learn from and adopt the methods and theoretical resources that western scholars have, but also pay attention to the rich resources in China's traditional philosophical thought.
As long as we read the ideological works of ancient sages, we will find that China's traditional philosophy has a very distinctive practical character and its unique ideological therapy effect.
Although farming culture has many moral ideals and ideological elements, it still preserves the wisdom of human life practice. China's traditional philosophy has always been close to social life and always attached importance to Xiu De's self-cultivation and spiritual cultivation. Confucianism, in particular, has its own set of cultivation methods from "loyalty and filial piety", "benevolence" and "learning"
Reading the Analects of Confucius seems to be a process of "philosophical consultation" with questions and answers. In fact, the revival of Confucianism can start from the micro level, that is, the transformation and application of its self-cultivation methods.
Confucius and Socrates have wonderful similarities in philosophy and teaching. Perhaps "returning to Confucius" is an effective way for China to carry out "philosophical consultation".
Precautions:
(1) Lou Marinof, Plato, not Prozac! -Applying Philosophy to Everyday Problems, new york: Harper Collins Publishing House, 1999. Page 260.
② Peter B. Rabe, Problems in Philosophical Consultation, Westport: praeger Press, 2002, p. 14- 17.
(3) see Lou Marinof, Plato, don't prozac! -apply philosophy to everyday problems.
④ seneca, Epicurus Reader, Cambridge: Hackett, 1994, p. 48.
⑤ john dewey, Reconstruction in Philosophy, Boston: Lighthouse Press, 1957, pp. 120- 12 1.
6 Lou Marinof, Plato, not Prozac! -applying philosophy to everyday problems, page 27 1.