Van 16-20 juli 2008 zal ik deelnemen aan de IXe International Conference on Philosophical Practice te Carloforte, Sardinie, Italie. Zie www.carloforte2008.eu. Ik zal er een workshop verzorgen en een lezing geven. De abstract van de workshop treft u hieronder. Een nederlandse versie verzorg ik op verzoek.

The Socratic attitude in philosophical counseling

P.P.M. Harteloh, Ph.D.

Philosophical Counselor, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Workshop: 90 minutes, 12 participants, language: English

Socrates is an important example for philosophical counseling. His way of questioning, his dialogue with the inhabitants of Athens, and his way of life inspire or even guide our work with guests or clients in philosophical practice. As an example, Socrates exemplifies an attitude, “The Socratic attitude”, which can distinguish philosophical practice from therapy or from other forms of counseling. Socrates didn’t leave us any explicit thoughts on this attitude himself. It has to be reconstructed from the works of Plato. In this reconstruction lies a valuable experience for philosophical counselors. The goal of this workshop is to facilitate this in order to train philosophical counselors.

In this workshop we explore different aspects of the Socratic attitude as they emerge from the works of Plato. We will procede as follows:

(i)                  Six different text fragments from the works of Plato are handed out. Two by two participants study one of the text fragments;

(ii)                They try to find the question which suits the text fragment best. No interpretation is allowed (yet), only questioning. The couples have to brainstorm, come up with questions and reach consensus on the best question;

(iii)               The couples present their solution to the group;

(iv)              The group questions the couple as much as possible. Why do they think the question they put forward, suits the text fragment best? The couple defends their opinion against the group;

(v)                After each couple has presented their solution to the group, we compare the different solutions and explore the corresponding aspect of the Socratic attitude;

(vi)              We evaluate the result.

An attitude is a set of interacting beliefs and desires, underlying our thoughts and actions. Each text fragment used in this workshop represents a different aspect of the Socratic attitude. Participants learn about these different aspects of the Socratic attitude in a Socratic way, e.g. by practicing the art of questioning. Thus, they experience the Socratic attitude. They also experience the Socratic way of life, e.g what it means to question people.

By presenting it on this meeting, I hope to develop the workshop further as a tool for training philosophical counselors in the Socratic attitude. I want to evaluate the selected text fragments and the way we procede with the participants.