USA Weekend
October 22-24, 1999
Philosophy: the new therapy for
2000
Ann Japenga
Why you may soon call philosophers
to solve problems.
Conduct
your own Socratic Dialogue
Start with a minimum of five participants.
Ask a question in the form of “What is…”
You might ask, “What is love?”
Tell personal stories about love.
Examine the best story. What about it embodies love?
Define “love.”
Challenge the other stories using your new definition.
When you see flaws, revise your definition. When the
definition holds up to scrutiny, your thinking strands
with the work of the great philosophers.
One dismissed as a sort of
parlor game for eggheads, philosophy is making a comeback
among regular folks who say Plato and Socrates speak
to modern life. “The questions people are asking
are the same things that were being discussed in Athens
2,500 years age, except now we’re doing it under
fluorescent lights with satellites circling over our
heads,” says Lou Marinoff, Ph.D., author of Plato,
Not Prozac!: Applying Philosophy to Everyday Problems.
Call it getting to know thyself.
In this new take on a very old movement, troubled people
make appointments with philosophers, not psychologists;
corporations hire philosophers as consultants; and philosophers
cafes are neighborhood gathering spots.
Marinoff, a philosophy professor
at City College of New York and one of 100 members of
the fledgling American Philosophical Practitioners Association,
wants to put philosophers and shrinks in the same counseling
status. His home state is the first so consider licensing
philosophers.
Philosophy is more engaging
than traditional therapy, Marinoff says, because it’s
about “dialogue, not diagnosis.” It’s
not just mind over matter. A thoughtful approach may
reduce road rage, school violence and other byproducts
of an unexamined life, devotees say.
Even corporate managers are
turning to philosophy. Tom Morris, Ph.D., author of
If Aristotle Ran General Motors (Henry Holt
& Co., $12), gets 250 requests a year from major
companies such as IBM and Merrill Lynch to talk about
the four virtues – truth, beauty, goodness and
unity – and how to apply them at work. One example:
The SAS Institute, a software company in Cary, N.C.,
locks its gates at 6 p.m. so employees will have to
go home and be with their families and have a life outside
of work, says Morris.
“Philosophy is about
getting your bearings in life,” says Morris, a
former rock musician who taught philosophy for 15 years
at Notre Dame. His just-out book: Philosophy for
Dummies (IDG Books Worldwide, $19.99). Morris sees
it as an “Outward Bound for the mind.” Think:
“mental rock climbing.”
Philosopher Chris Phillips
of San Francisco, who hosts in-school chats for sages
as young as 5, believes philosophical inquiry can change
the world: “Schools don’t teach critical
thinking, so children don’t know how to make fateful
decisions.” In one class, he ripped a sheet of
paper in two and asked: Was it a violent act? Using
Socratic technique, the kids excavated deep layers:
Can paper feel pain? Is pain necessary for violence?
Does it matter whether it’s torn in anger?
Their answer: Results matter
more than intentions in judging violence. Not bad for
9-year-olds.
