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      • The Search for Meaning
      • Ethics & Sports
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      • Anger and Forgiveness
      • Nonviolent Communication
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      • Buddhism
      • Buddhism in Action
      • Taoism
      • Existentialism
      • Feminism & Freedom
      • History of Sexuality
      • Ethics and Nature
      • Alienation
      • Alienation 2
      • William James: Meaning, Faith & Science
      • Philosophy of Dialogue
      • Roots of Democracy
      • Ethics of Authenticity
      • Color Conscious
  • Retreats
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Clarity
Meaning
​Purpose
Empowerment
​Fulfillment

What is Philosophical Counseling?

Ok, so you've heard the phrase a couple of times. But what is this philosophical counseling thing anyway, and how can it help you? 

As the world of philosophical counseling is still in its pioneering stages, my hope is to introduce the field to potential clients who are looking for an alternative to psychotherapy and want to try out a different approach.


You're in the right place to learn about the burgeoning field of philosophical counseling and to make your first appointment!


​The basic premise:

Let's start here: Our ways of thinking influence our ways of feeling, desiring, choosing, acting, creating, relating, and being in the world. When our lives are filled with problems, those problems are often-times rooted in our ways of thinking. But most of the time we don't even notice our patterns of thinking. They run on auto-pilot, fueled by old habits and operating assumptions.

For instance, somewhere along the way you may have picked up the belief that you are not smart enough to pursue the career or lifestyle of your dreams. Maybe you've decided that you are stuck in your current dysfunctional situation and there is no way out, or that you must live according to other people's expectations of you. Maybe mainstream notions of success have stamped themselves on your brain, and you've never had the chance to really question whether they are healthy or toxic.

Our auto-pilot ways of thinking can wreak havoc on our ways of feeling, choosing, and acting in the world. 
Such ways of thinking may leave you feeling confused, aimless, depressed, alienated, powerless, worthless, defeated, or swimming in a sea of meaninglessness.

If we could slow down and reflect on our ways of thinking, we might better understand the way we see the world, and have a chance to ask questions about it: What evidence is there for and against my way of seeing the world? How does it serve me? How does it trip me up at times? Are there alternative points of view I could consider? Have I made hasty conclusions?

If we could examine our ways of thinking — our beliefs, assumptions, interpretations, judgments, and values — we might be able to adjust a few things that aren't working too well for us, and cultivate greater clarity, coherence, breadth, and depth in our worldview. 

​This work can have a big impact on our future actions, reactions, and general experience of life.
If we can carefully revise our assumptions about what is true, fair, and good, then we can apply our new insights to our actions in a way that allows us to live with greater intention, self-determination, and authenticity. 

​So, a
 regular practice of self-examination and deliberate action — the cornerstone of a philosophical life, and the very thing we pursue together in philosophical counseling — has the power to increase understanding, meaning, purpose, freedom, and fulfillment in our lives. 

It also has the power to transform many of the emotional culprits that cause us suffering — fear, dread, angst, anger, depression, excessive attachment, jealousy, resentment, low self-esteem, and guilt. When you start to think in new ways, you also start to feel in new ways too . . . and the way you approach and experience the world begins to shift. You might be surprised how quickly some of your old feelings change or even vanish when you have a new realization, or try on a new perspective in philosophical counseling.
Examining the thoughts behind the feelings paves the way for major life transformation and healing.

Philosophical counseling is, thus, a process that is educative, empowering, and therapeutic.

Philosophical Counseling with
​Monica Vilhauer, Ph.D.

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Feeling lost? Stuck? Or just so done with it all?

Starting to question the status quo on a daily basis?

Ready to find new direction in your life, but not sure where to start?


I'm a philosophical counselor who helps individuals seeking a more meaningful and self-determined  life.

​Together, we'll get clear on your beliefs and values, work to align your actions with your priorities, reclaim your freedom, and create an authentic life that is truly your own.


Contact me for an initial consultation
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Learn more about
​Philosophical Counseling
​with Monica

What do we do in philosophical counseling?

In philosophical counseling, we embark on an inquiry into your life.
 
Philosophical counseling is a collaborative and conversational activity in which you and a trained philosopher work through your life-problems by identifying, examining, and revising as necessary the operating beliefs, values, and habits of action that inform those problems.
 
(1) The process of identifying your implicit “truths” and values, and making them explicit, improves your self-awareness and puts you in a position to clarify and critically examine the fundamental principles that have been guiding your life.
 
(2) The process of critically examining your core truths and values helps you to analyze the reasons and evidence that support your beliefs, discover the strengths and weaknesses as well as the benefits and challenges of your ways of thinking, and compare them with alternative perspectives. It also helps you to become aware of inconsistencies between beliefs, and conflicts between beliefs and habits of action (what you say and do). These revelations help you to become aware of instances in which you might be working at cross-purposes with yourself.
 
(3) The revision stage is one of creative re-building, in which your core truths and values shift, expand, and sharpen, with the consideration of various perspectives from philosophical wisdom traditions. It is also a stage of application, in which you experiment with putting new ideas into practice, and work to direct your actions, relationships, and ways of communicating with intentional choice.
 
In philosophical counseling, the three stages tend to move in a circular manner, rather than a linear one. As new insights emerge, it can be valuable to circle back to earlier stages with new ideas for deeper examination.
 
The ultimate goal of philosophical counseling is to help you to conduct an inquiry into your own life, to develop your own coherent, empowering, and fulfilling philosophy of life, and to live it! Minimally, what you can expect to get out of philosophical counseling is greater self-knowledge and understanding of your problems. Maximally, you can become empowered to solve those problems, relieve suffering, and create greater fulfillment in your life.

The role of the philosophical counselor:

A philosophical counselor approaches their client as a fully functioning individual with the courage to deal with the perplexities and struggles central to the human condition.
 
A philosophical counselor does not diagnose or treat emotional or behavioral disorders, and if problems arise of a medical nature, the philosophical counselor will help you to seek an appropriate health care professional. 
 
A philosophical counselor works collaboratively with you to solve life-problems by activating and cultivating the powers you already possesses — like critical thinking, imagination, empathy, desire, self-discipline, and creativity.  A philosophical counselor acts as a navigation partner on your journey to gain awareness, find direction, create solutions, and develop a fulfilling life. 
 
The philosophical counselor does not tell you what to think or what to do, but instead asks questions, uses tools of critical examination, offers fresh perspectives, draws connections, and gives encouragement. Most importantly, a philosophical counselor listens carefully to you, works to understand your problems and your operating worldview, and works with you to develop a coherent philosophy of life that will serve your own well-being.


It may seem that philosophical counseling is a new invention. Actually, it is as old as philosophy itself. The ancient Greeks — Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, the Epicureans — saw philosophy as not only an educational activity, but as a kind of therapy for the soul that eased suffering, developed personal integrity, encouraged self-mastery, created justice, and cultivated the good life. 
 
Even in the era of academic philosophy, this ancient vision of philosophy has survived in the philosophical traditions of ethics, political philosophy, existentialism, pragmatism, and feminism (among others). Modern day philosophical counselors revive the ancient Socratic art of philosophy, and put it to work to pursue the examined life in a one-on-one setting.

What kinds of problems are philosophical problems?

You might wonder whether or not you’ve got any philosophical problems.  Most of the time we characterize our problems in terms of a particular relationship we're struggling with, a big life change, or a feeling of sadness, loss, confusion, loneliness, frustration, powerlessness, burnout, or worry.  But, quite often these very problems are signs of broader philosophical problems that deserve attention.
 
Common philosophical problems include questions or difficulties with:
  • Core beliefs and truths
  • Critical thinking and questioning assumptions
  • Creative thinking and trying out alternative perspectives
  • Clear reasoning and consistency
  • Ethics and values
  • Meaning, purpose, and fulfillment
  • Identity and change
  • Loss and death
  • Alienation
  • Self-discipline
  • Decision making
  • Moderating emotional life
  • Power and Justice 
  • Communication and language
  • Conflict resolution
  • Freedom, responsibility, and self-determination
  • Authenticity
It’s important to recognize that not all life-problems are medical in nature. Not every instance of struggle, suffering, or unhappiness is a sign of a mental illness. There are times when it is appropriate to seek a health care professional with training in psychology for treatment of an emotional or behavioral disorder. There are instances in which a problem in one’s brain-chemistry exists and it is appropriate to get the help of a psychiatrist who can prescribe medication. But when problems are not medical in nature, one needs a different kind of counsel. 
 
Sometimes non-medical problems are narrow in scope, requiring legal, financial, business, or academic counsel.  And sometimes the problems are more general, having to do at their root with "the big questions" like:
  • What’s true?
  • What’s right?
  • What’s good?
  • What should I care about most?
  • What are my responsibilities? 
  • What does it all mean?
  • What should I do?
  • Who am I, and who do I want to be?
  • How do I fit into the bigger world?
  • Why am I here?
  • How can I best relate with others?
  • How can I best deal with change?
  • How should I live?
  • How can I take better control of my life? 
  • How can I be happy?
  •  . . . . and how can I come to know the answers to any of these questions and cope with uncertainty about them? ​
These are classic questions of philosophy.  
 
Most everyday problems dealing with ethics, values, meaning, purpose, truth, certainty, justice, power, freedom, and happiness are not medical in nature and cannot be resolved with medical intervention. They are best approached through philosophical dialogue.

What's the difference between philosophical dialogue and psychotherapy?

Philosophical dialogue is a unique kind of dialogue. In it, we take our time to slowly and thoroughly clarify the meaning of our terms, examine lines of reasoning with critical thinking tools, compare our ways of thinking with other perspectives and worldviews, and consider the relationship between our ways of thinking and our ways of feeling, choosing, communicating, and acting.

Unlike psychotherapy, philosophical dialogue is not diagnostic. A philosopher does not treat you as a patient, nor assume that there is a disorder or illness present in you (beyond the challenges with the human condition that we all face). A philosopher does not presume causal explanations for your behaviors, feelings, or thoughts: He or she does not view you as one who is "determined" to feel, act, or think in a certain way because of internal or external conditions. A philosopher assumes that w
ith your human abilities to think and choose, you have the power to change your life. A philosophical counselor acts as your partner and collaborator in that process.

Whereas many psychotherapists tend to approach your problems by focusing on your emotional life, eliciting affect, tracing a personal history of trauma, and identifying childhood origins of current difficulties (a retrospective approach focused heavily on emotion); philosophical counselors approach your ways of feeling as a starting point for uncovering your ways of thinking, examining assumptions, and considering which choices you might make going forward for a more fulfilling life (a prospective approach that connects thinking, feeling, and choosing).

Philosophers are trained to notice the assumptions — the truth claims and value claims — that are at work in what another person says. Philosophical counselors ask questions about those operating assumptions, and work to elicit reasons and evidence for the ways you think, ask questions about what is true, good, and fair, and open up different perspectives for discussion. So, philosophical counselors investigate why you feel the way you do by examining the thoughts — the assumptions, the judgments, the values — that inform those feelings and that influence the way you approach and experience the world. They then help you to revise those thoughts as needed, and apply new insights to your life. As your ways of thinking develop and transform in philosophical counseling, so do your ways of feeling, choosing, acting  . . . living!  

One more important thing. Philosophical counselors consider the ways in which your personal history takes place within a wider context of social-political structures. There are times when your distress has much to do with the power relations in which you exist or the state of injustice in the world, and the remedy is not so much about turning inward and learning to adapt to that injustice, but learning how to engage politically, and resist in active, creative, and fruitful ways that bring a greater sense of meaning, purpose, and agency to your life. Sometimes "the personal is political" — which means that sometimes a person's problems should not be treated merely as psychological difficulties to adapt to the norms of society, but as manifestations of systemic injustices or toxic cultures that need reform.

In summary, philosophical counseling takes a holistic approach to the thinking-feeling-choosing-doing of the individual in a social-political world, and considers the individual’s powers of examination, creative exploration, and reflective choice to be vehicles of movement, change, and growth. Though there are indeed patterns of thinking that can cause us problems, thinking itself is not considered a problem in philosophical counseling. It is harnessed as a wonderful tool and key ingredient for living with vision, intention, and freedom.


There are some psychotherapeutic methods that are not in tension with, but have a kinship with philosophical approaches, as their theoretical roots can be traced back to Socratic, Stoic, Buddhist, Existential, or Feminist philosophies, among others. But as a psychotherapist's and philosopher's training can be quite different, there is a difference in which dimensions of their clients' problems they focus on (even when they share theoretical foundations), and a difference in the tools they bring to the table to grapple with those problems.

What's special about a philosopher's training?

Philosophers have a kind of training that makes them well suited for the kind of dialogue-work described above. It is probably well known that philosophers have a knack for asking questions, clarifying ideas, challenging popular opinions, drawing connections, offering fresh perspectives, and getting involved in painstakingly careful inquiries into big questions. There are some other skills philosophers have that are particularly useful in a one-on-one counseling relationship.
 
  • Philosophers have a trained ability to understand others’ worldviews, to learn them inside and out, to explain them, compare them, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, to analyze their benefits and challenges, and to think through their concrete implications in practice.
  • Philosophers have a trained ability to listen carefully for an argument in what another person says, and to identify assumptions, implicit truth claims, and implicit values. They can trace carefully another’s line of reasoning, and ask the questions needed to examine it.
  • Philosophers carry around with them a toolbox of well-used critical thinking tools that allow them to recognize and remedy faulty reasoning, fallacies, and contradictions.
  • Philosophers have experience with uncertainty and exploring uncharted territories of thinking without a map. They are accustomed to working without a formula, and dealing creatively with open-ended questions.
  • Philosophers know how to inspire learning, activate and awaken the inner philosopher in others (Socrates' gadfly effect), and empower people to think for themselves and choose reflectively.
  • Philosophers know how to learn from others, take what they say seriously, interpret their meaning, and engage in an ongoing practice of self-critique and revision of their own understanding, providing a helpful model to others who are on their own philosophical journey for the first time.
  • Philosophers know how to recognize relativism, nihilism, solipsism, and other “tail-spin” positions.
  • Philosophers have been trained in, and can discuss, a broad array of wisdom traditions (ancient and modern, eastern and western). They are also experts in a few of their favorite theories, about which they have usually taught, debated publicly with other experts, and published in a deep and thorough manner.
 
So, here's the punchline: A philosopher can make an excellent co-traveler on your journey into the big questions of life. A philosopher can offer a unique inquiry-experience that opens up distinct dimensions of thought, and that complements and moves beyond other forms of "talk-therapy."

*I'm indebted to the conversations that took place at the certification program for philosophical counseling at the American Philosophical Practitioners Association in 2018 for many of the ideas articulated here, as well as to my discussions with fellow philosophical practitioners.

Ready to ask the big questions?

Contact Monica Vilhauer for an Initial Consultation

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Philosophical Counseling with Monica Vilhauer in the news:

Article about philosophical counseling in Oprah Magazine
Oprah Magazine
Article about philosophical counseling in VICE
VICE

What Our Clients Are Saying
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"Monica meets you on every level: She’ll readily engage with any abstract ideas you have about the world or the self, and analyze those ideas with you, but she also has a way of making you feel that she viscerally understands the difficulty of the situations you’re describing. When I talk to her, I have the feeling that I’m talking to someone who is very present, who is on my side, and who has also fought to be able to live her own life on her terms."
"Conversations with Monica feel non-hierarchical. She is working through the questions with you, not diagnosing you or analyzing you."
"I get the sense that philosophical counseling for Monica is an extension of who she is. These difficult topics are a part of her own life, and she is comfortable talking about what is uncomfortable."

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