Think for Yourself
Yesterday my daughter mentioned to me the concept of a philosophical coach. Apparently, the job description of a philosophical coach is someone who offers coaching to clients looking to understand their lives, problems, and relationships, in a philosophical manner. In other words, trying to find the "why" to life and its problems that mankind has been searching for since he could think.
The job description in the Wikipedia explains that a philosophical counselor or coach, "offer their philosophical counseling or consultation services to clients who look for a philosophical understanding of their lives, social problems, or even mental problems." There are different counselors listed on the internet, and they describe their purpose in more or less the same words. They offer people a way to understand and overcome their problems and questions in order to lead a more fulfilling life.
It seems to have begun in the early 1980's in Germany, as a part of an anti-psychiatry movement that criticized the idea of simply searching for symptoms; that every obstacle a person encountered, or problems in their life stemmed from a mental illness of one kind or another. Those who began the movement were philosophers who wanted to do like Socrates and ask questions that would make people ask themselves questions. In other words, to help people think for themselves.
To me, that this discipline should exist is a symptom itself of the illnesses of modern society. Philosophical counseling was first defined in the 1980's, a time when the political neo-conservatives gained ascendancy, such as Ronald Reagan, who believed there should be no restraint, moral or otherwise, on the free market and its ability to make money. It was a time when becoming ruthlessly rich was a virtue, and poverty something you inflicted on yourself. It was a reaction against the previous two decades in which young people, which were the largest segment of the population at the time, fought for social causes and freedoms. Society became blinded by the glitter and the glam, and placed all of its focus on being happy with material things. Schools and universities entered the fray, slowly focusing on training students for the marketplace, rather than teaching them to think, which is the main purpose of education.
In the end, this new discipline has taken the place that education has traditionally occupied. The purpose of education is to present students with different ideas and ways of thinking, and to force the students to think for themselves as they learn about the different subjects. But that purpose has been twisted in our modern world, and education has become a training period in life, in which students are taught more about the technical details of the different subjects, while omitting the different ways mankind has seen them through the years, and therefore not obligating the students to learn to think critically about what they are learning. Critical thought is seen as an enemy to the modern way of life, and no longer necessary as everything is decided for us.
And so, those of us who feel an emptiness in this life, or who are faced with overwhelming decisions and no way of understanding their consequences, can pay a person between $100 to $250 an hour to help us learn to think. I imagine, though, it would take more than one session to resolve the acquired deficit in critical thinking, and therefore a philosophical counselor is only within reach of the wealthier strata. Those who can't afford it and weren't taught to think can just be kept in their ignorance to be better confused and led wherever anyone wants.
The job description in the Wikipedia explains that a philosophical counselor or coach, "offer their philosophical counseling or consultation services to clients who look for a philosophical understanding of their lives, social problems, or even mental problems." There are different counselors listed on the internet, and they describe their purpose in more or less the same words. They offer people a way to understand and overcome their problems and questions in order to lead a more fulfilling life.
It seems to have begun in the early 1980's in Germany, as a part of an anti-psychiatry movement that criticized the idea of simply searching for symptoms; that every obstacle a person encountered, or problems in their life stemmed from a mental illness of one kind or another. Those who began the movement were philosophers who wanted to do like Socrates and ask questions that would make people ask themselves questions. In other words, to help people think for themselves.
To me, that this discipline should exist is a symptom itself of the illnesses of modern society. Philosophical counseling was first defined in the 1980's, a time when the political neo-conservatives gained ascendancy, such as Ronald Reagan, who believed there should be no restraint, moral or otherwise, on the free market and its ability to make money. It was a time when becoming ruthlessly rich was a virtue, and poverty something you inflicted on yourself. It was a reaction against the previous two decades in which young people, which were the largest segment of the population at the time, fought for social causes and freedoms. Society became blinded by the glitter and the glam, and placed all of its focus on being happy with material things. Schools and universities entered the fray, slowly focusing on training students for the marketplace, rather than teaching them to think, which is the main purpose of education.
In the end, this new discipline has taken the place that education has traditionally occupied. The purpose of education is to present students with different ideas and ways of thinking, and to force the students to think for themselves as they learn about the different subjects. But that purpose has been twisted in our modern world, and education has become a training period in life, in which students are taught more about the technical details of the different subjects, while omitting the different ways mankind has seen them through the years, and therefore not obligating the students to learn to think critically about what they are learning. Critical thought is seen as an enemy to the modern way of life, and no longer necessary as everything is decided for us.
And so, those of us who feel an emptiness in this life, or who are faced with overwhelming decisions and no way of understanding their consequences, can pay a person between $100 to $250 an hour to help us learn to think. I imagine, though, it would take more than one session to resolve the acquired deficit in critical thinking, and therefore a philosophical counselor is only within reach of the wealthier strata. Those who can't afford it and weren't taught to think can just be kept in their ignorance to be better confused and led wherever anyone wants.
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