Philosophy in practice

There’s an ambiguity inherent in the word “practice.” It can mean to rehearse in order to improve
one’s ability in a certain activity or it can mean the activity itself. “What Does it Mean to
Practice Philosophy?” is referring to the latter, the activity of philosophy and not its rehearsal.
➢ Philosophical Practice, a branch in the modern philosophy, using philosophizing as a
means for posing, analyzing and solving worldview problems that are determined on the
basis of spiritual needs of a client. The task of a philosophical practitioner is to raise the
client’s private problems to the philosophical level, to carry-out with him/her a
philosophical reflection on these problems with the goal of widening the boundaries of
the client’s worldview. as a rule, fragments of philosophical works are
used for philosophical reflection. in contrast to psychotherapy in the analysis of the client’s
personality, philosophical practice relies on the ontological principles of existential
philosophy, rather than on biomedical or psychometric characteristics. in addition, the
consultation procedure itself involves working with philosophical categories, in the light
of which the comprehension of the client’s worldview problems takes place. Unlike
academic philosophy, philosophical practice deals not with the study of philosophical
theories or systems, but with the practical application of certain philosophizing procedures,
spiritual exercises (P. Hadot), emphasizing the self-knowledge of the client, contributing to
the expansion of the boundaries (transformation) of his/her worldview.
➢ First international association of Philosophical Practice:
Philosophical practice was institutionalized in 1982, when the first international
association of Philosophical Practice (IGPP) (Germany, Аustria and Switzerland) was established
under the leadership of G.B. Achenbach. currently, associations of philosophical practitioners
exist in almost all regions of the world.
The most widespread forms of philosophical practice are:
1. Philosophical counseling
2. Socratic dialogue
3. Philosophical companionship

1 Philosophical counseling
is a form of individual or group work, which is a series of meetings organized
and directed by a philosophical counselor as a rule, philosophical texts serve as material for the
work helping the client to carry out the necessary reflection on specific and
particular manifestations of his/her “philosophical illness”. The phrase “philosophical disease” is
not a metaphor; it is a real state of human existence in the world of everyday life characterized
by acute sensitivity to the “call of the Being” (M. Heidegger), coupled with the fear
of death, social isolation, freedom and meaninglessness of life. Thus, “philosophical illness” is
treated by philosophical methods, which are akin to the ancient practices of care of the self,
“constructing the self” in the face of faceless structures of everyday life.
2 Socratic dialogue
The basis of this form of philosophical practice is the principles
of working with internal and external speech. Since a person’s external speech, by virtue of its
automaticity does not always correspond to what s/he thinks about, firstly, one or another statement
cannot express any thought at all, but completely relate to the manifestations of the emotional
state; secondly, a person often resorts to an external speech in order to disguise, conceal real
thoughts about him- or herself, others or about the situation, unwittingly deceiving him- or herself
and others. Therefore, the task of the philosophical practitioner is to “reconcile” the interlocutor
with his own speech (o. Brenifier), i.e. to open for him/her a reflexive plan of analyzing his/her
speech utterances to discover those hidden thoughts that mask outward speech. This philosophical
practice is effective both for clarifying the meaning of concepts used in external speech, and for
clarifying the meaning of problems arising in certain situations that interfere with a person in
solution of certain life problems. During the unmasking of emotions, speech and actions
automatisms, a person gets the opportunity to understand the perimeter (R. Lahav) of his “Platonic
cave”, as well as the possibility of emerging from it to a new level of thinking and worldview in
general.
3 Philosophical companionship
This form of philosophical practice is a group of companions engaged in joint
philosophical contemplation of various aspects of worldview problems by the method of
phenomenological reduction. The main condition of philosophical companionship is a deep
concentration on that “pure” experience that can be obtained from a meditative state that puts all
the automatisms of thought and speech of external everyday experience “beyond the brackets”.
concentration on this experience is carried out by the method of slow reading of fragments of
philosophical text containing complete ideas on the contemplated problem. The statement of
one’s own ideas is carried out in unison with the text read, its main concepts are singled out, from
which a common “map of ideas” is constructed by the efforts of the group, supplemented by
concepts or images arising in the space of “pure” experience of each member. The purpose of
group work is to help collectively clarify philosophical ideas through joint efforts. The work of
members of the group remind the actions of musicians in a single orchestra.