PETER B. RAAB, Theory and practice of philosophical counseling 1
Peter Raabe in quello che può essere considerato uno dei primi manuali di consulenza filosofica 2 , dedica un lungo e dettagliato capitolo al confronto tra consulenza filosofica e psicoterapie. Il consulente giunge alla conclusione che tra le due pratiche non esiste una grandissima differenza considerando che “alcuni approcci alla psicoterapia sono di fatto dichiaratamente filosofici” e che “i loro professionisti condividono la capacità di filosofare e possono essere assai abili nell’attingere alle filosofie occidentali e asiatiche per ispirare il trattamento dei loro clienti” 3 .Raabe, sottolinea come tutte le nuove professions, including philosophical counseling is no exception, have the need to demarcate its own domain, emphasizing, for example, their characteristics and their differences in relation to other industry practices 4 .
However, philosophical counseling can be clearly distinguished only by psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy classic, and has more in common with other forms. Mainly to the fact that share some basic assumptions such as, for example, the importance of "active participation of the customer" and the rejection of any "perspective paternalistic-psychoanalytic " 5 .
So, with regard to the landscape of psychotherapy in the broad sense, for Raabe, there are no clear sufficiententemente able to distinguish the philosophical from the psychotherapist, outside the mere finding of fact that the former has a greater preparation in the field of philosophy. Also with regard to the customer / therapist , philosophical counseling can be clearly distinguished only by the classical psychoanalytic therapy.
The latter looks to score a " posizione di progetto ”, secondo cui non sono importanti tanto le ragioni che il cliente esprime, quanto quello che sta dietro a tali ragioni. Ad esempio, “se il cliente dice ‘sono depresso perché ho perso la fede in Dio’, il terapeuta, usando la ‘posizione di progetto’ eviterà di occuparsi del problema di Dio e cercherà invece di scoprire le dinamiche inconsce che stanno dietro questa depressione” 6 .
La consulenza filosofica, insieme ad altre forme di psicoterapia, assumerebbe, al contrario, una “ posizione intenzionale ", Which considers the client as" an autonomous person who is so influenced by his beliefs, desires and so on, but is determined not only by his unconscious " 7 .
Regarding the objectives, one notable difference lies in the fact that psychotherapists admit that it intends "to help their clients achieve a change for the improvement of their lives" 8 . The philosophical counselor, at least as we understand Achenbach, should instead be able to "resist the temptation to such an objective in the process of counseling" 9 . However, said Raabe, the change can only be an essential element of philosophical counseling, as this should not be declared openly.
The Canadian consultant, refers here to one of the basic elements of his conception of the discipline: it must have a clear and intentional educational purposes. This means that the philosophical, as it aims to "help the client achieve greater intellectual freedom and autonomy noetic" can not refrain from teaching "the skills and attitutini necessary to do so" 10 .
For Blacks Pollastri However, despite the similarities between philosophical counseling and psychotherapy schools, we can not forget that "all in one way or another, as essential to revive the use of 'strategies and techniques' of a psychological nature, which conversely appear to have systematically remain outside the horizon of the relationship of philosophical counseling, and all, though with different accents, take on the centrality of the 'misery' and conceptualize as a form of 'pathology' " 11 .
1 See PB Raabe, Theory and practice of philosophical consuenza , cit., P. 126
2 PB Raabe, Theory and practice of philosophical consuenza , Apogee, Milan, 2006
3 Ibid, p. 103
4 Ivi , p. 89
5 Ivi , pp. 107-108
6 Ivi , p. 108
7 Ivi , p. 109
8 Ivi , p. 120
9 Ivi , p. 116
10 Ibid , pp. 165-166
11 N. Poultry Observations for a definition of philosophical counseling , in "Kykéion, 8, 2002, cit., P. 59
