The Philosophical counselling: synthesis of the essence and modern tendencies of philosophy

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of philosophical counselling and coaching as contemporary tendencies of philosophy. The authors intend to demonstrate that philosophical counseling arises as a result of transformations of philosophy, its acquisition of a practical dimension related to the “end of metaphysics,” the situation of “end of ‘grand narratives” (J.-F. Lyotard), “linguistic/communicative / practice turns in philosophy,” “era of interpretation.” Thus, philosophical counseling is closely related to modern philosophical trends - existentialism, philosophy of dialogue, communicative philosophy, hermeneutics. But, at the same time, the dimension of philosophical counseling was embedded in philosophy from the very beginning. The idea of ​​“philosophy as a way of life” defines the essence of philosophical practice. Certain archetypal images include Socrates, who used his maieutic method to lead students to the truth (essentially advising them on how to choose the path to truth), or Plato, who traveled to the tyrants of Syracuse to “consult” how to create an ideal state. That is why author’s thesis is that to understand the essence of philosophical counseling and define its principles, we should turn to the peculiarities of the development of philosophy in the modern era and certain universal principles of philosophizing, manifested throughout the history of philosophical thought.