I am a Logic-Based Consultant, certified by the National Philosophical Counseling Association (NPCA) in 2020 (Certificate No. 326). I use this method of philosophical counseling both to cultivate my own mental health and spiritual well-being and to adapt its insights for teaching. This category gathers articles and essays written primarily for use in the liberal arts classroom.
Audio: Six Steps of Philosophical Counseling, by Dr. Bin Song.
Video: Six Steps of Philosophical Counseling, by Dr. Bin Song
Required Reading:
Elliot Cohen, Logic-based Therapy and Everyday Emotions, xiii-xxxiii.
Quiz:
1, Premises are identified by a philosophical therapist as “fallacies” because they are
A, not realistic B, not reasonable C, tending to generate undesirable consequences to the flourishing of individual human life.
2, which of the following fallacies are attended to by a philosophical therapist?
A, Demanding perfection B, Damning (of self, others, life, or the universe) C, Bandwagon Thinking D, Oversimplifying realities E, Distorting probabilities.
3, To tackle the fallacies in one’s emotional reasoning, it is normally more effective to start to refute the premise in the highest order. Is this statement true or false?
4, Refuting a fallacy in the practice of philosophical counseling is similar to do so in an academic conference. The counselor needs to forcefully present their own view so as to correct the counselee’s wrong ideas. Is this statement true or false?
5, what is the reason for LBT to choose the Aristotelian virtue ethics as a major ethical framework?
A, because it helps to make good decisions. B, because it helps to lay out universal ethical principles. C, because it focuses upon the transformation of people’s inner disposition, habit and character traits.
6, which is the guiding virtue to correct the fallacy of “bandwagon thinking” in one’s emotional reasoning?
A, metaphysical security B, self-respect C, Authenticity.
7, A philosophical counselor can choose whatever philosophy they feel right to suggest to counselees in Step Five of LBT. Is this statement true of false?
8, Can you describe one philosophy which has changed, shaped or influenced your emotions or behaviors in your life?
Audio: Know what you think when you emote, by Dr. Bin Song.
Video: Know what you think when you emote, by Dr. Bin Song.
Required Reading:
Elliot D. Cohen, Logic-Based Therapy and Everyday Emotions, 3-21.
Quiz:
(1) All human emotions are rooted in thought and reasoning. Is this statement true or false?
(2) (A) My roommate, Peter, ate my cake which I put in the refrigerator when I was absent. (B) He is so selfish and just a piece of pig. (C) I am so angry and hate him. In this process of emotional reasoning of anger and hatred, which component is the intentional object (O)?
(3) Following the above question, which component is the rating (R)?
(4) Which of the following statements seem to be the highest rule, or the deepest belief that commands a chain of emotional reasoning?
A, all marketing is to sell products to people who do not need them, and therefore, I hate it. B, I prefer to be approved by all people who matter to me, and therefore, I must be approved by all of them. C, To have been divorced is such an awful event to my life, and nothing worse can be found in the entire universe. D, No matter who is my girlfriend, my mother must approve of her, and have a very good relationship with her.
(5) All emotions listed by Dr. Cohen on page 8 of the assigned reading are wrong. We should avoid them as much as we can. Is this statement true or false?
(6) According to Dr. Cohen on page 9-10 of the assigned reading, all cases of depression can be treated by philosophical counseling. Is this statement true or false?
(7) Please recall one most recent case in your life when you had a strong emotional reaction to an event. Can you analyze its reasoning process using the method taught in this unit? While doing so, please try to write the reasoning down in a form of syllogism, and try to get to the highest rule. Please answer this question use a couple of sentences.
Audio: the basics of logic for philosophical counseling, by Dr. Bin Song.
Video: the basics of logic for philosophical counseling, by Dr. Bin Song.
Quiz:
(1) When you arrive at your office, and find that the door has been opened; based upon your past experience, you conclude that the janitor is working inside right now. What type of reasoning are you utilizing to reach this conclusion?
A, Induction B, Deduction
(2) A gym trainer is struggling to figure out whether he should quit the job he loves because he has the least clients among peer trainers. He thought that “All marketing strategies are to sell products that clients do not want, and I hate it. There is a specific way of marketing for gym trainers to promote their training programs. Therefore, I would not learn this marketing skill in my profession even if this means the decrease of the number of my clients.” What type of reasoning is this gym trainer using to reach his conclusion?
A, Induction B, Deduction.
(3) If you get it correct on last question, how would you describe that gym trainer’s reasoning?
A, it is a valid and sound deductive reasoning. B, It is a valid deductive reasoning because if the premises are true, the conclusion is true. C, It is not a sound deductive reasoning because some premise of it is not true.
(4) Peter believes that a good child will get immediate approval from their parents about everything he or she has chosen or accomplished in the school. However, he chose a subject of study that he personally liked the most, but his parents do not quite approve of. Therefore, Peter conclude that he is not a good child. He feels deeply guilt about being so, and continually upsets himself whenever he is studying in the school. What kind of reasoning did Peter use to reach his conclusion?
A, induction. B, deduction.
(5) How do you evaluate Peter’s emotion of guilt? Is it rational or irrational? Is it based upon a sound reasoning? What advice do you want to give to Peter? Please answer these questions using a couple of sentences.
(6) Please recall an event in your life which triggers a negative emotion from you. Can you uncover the emotional reasoning underlying the process, and evaluate it using the basics of logic you learned from this unit of the course? Please answer this questions using a couple of sentences.
Hallo, this is Prof. Bin Song, at Washington College. If you are a student of my course “Foundations of Morality,” please let me greet you with my full-heart, and congratulate you because I think you have made a great decision for your life of philosophical learning and living. In this course, we will explore together one most exciting new development of philosophy in recent decades, namely, the idea of philosophy as a therapy and the corresponding practice of philosophical counseling. In this two-hundred level of survey course in ethics, we will also learn the basics of major ethical theories in human history, such as Aristotelian virtue ethics, Stoicism, Kant’s deontology, Confucianism, Buddhism, etc. However, different from the normal approach of learning and teaching ethics which tends to be mainly theoretical, we will be concerned with how to apply these ethical theories and ideas to the practical realms of self-care and therapy. In other words, I believe without a visible and tangible practical consequence, there is no point to teach ethics at all, since ethics, per its definition, is a subdiscipline of philosophy which pertains to the most urgent issues of practical daily life, such as how to make good decisions, how to define and be a good human person, how to live a flourished life, and how to evaluate the moral implication of behaviors, technologies, and institutions, etc.
So, in this first meeting of the course, let me explain why we can pursue philosophy as a therapy, and what is philosophical counseling.
When we talk about philosophy as a therapy, we mean it literally. In other words, philosophy can be taken as a major resource to rectify people’s mental dysfunction, enhance mental health, and furthermore, generate a positive and transformative impact upon people’s ordinary behaviors, so as to enhance the overall health of our life. The idea that philosophy has such a great appeal to health may sound novel to you, but this conception of philosophy actually has existed for a long time.
Think about Plato’s metaphorical depiction of human soul as a chariot driven by human will to manage the pull of two horses: one horse is reason, another is emotion. (Phaedrus, 246a-254e) According to Plato, only if humans are willing to consistently listen to the command of reason, and thus, balance the powers of emotion and reason, the soul can be maintained in its vigor and harmony, and human life can restore its health and prosperity. In this depiction, philosophy is seen as the discipline of human soul to have a great therapeutic impact upon the health of human individuals.
Philosophers in history did not only diagnose mental problems which lead to self-defeating lifestyles, like what Plato did, they also provided prescriptions to resolve those problems. For instance, after realizing his friend was constantly worrying over, and hence, became overly anxious about losing wealth or returning to poverty, the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca (c. 5 B.C – 65 A.D) recommended the following exercise:
“Set aside a certain number of days during which you restrict yourself to a minimal amount of the cheapest food and to hard and rough clothing, and say to yourself: ‘is this what I feared?’ ” [ Seneca, Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Ep.), 18.5-6, translation by Stephen R. Grimm and Caleb Cohoe ]
Here, in line with the Stoic philosophy that advocates good human life consists in managing things humans can control and disregarding things human cannot, Seneca prescribed an exercise to make his friend experience in advance poverty and distress so as to eliminate his constant worry over things human should not be worried about. While doing so, Seneca acted very much like a cognitive-behavioral therapist or psychiatrist in the contemporary world.
Not only in the West, was philosophy also practiced as a therapy in non-Western traditions. For instance, Neo-Confucianism is the dominate philosophical tradition in ancient China starting from around 10th century. Neo-Confucian philosophers developed a lifestyle called “half-day reading and half-day quiet-sitting” so as to combine their intellectual and practical aspects of philosophical living. They also believe that reading (读书), as a distinctive philosophical activity, can cultivate and refine one’s emotions. Further, these cultivated emotions help to form desirable habits and virtues (进德), and these virtues can furthermore enhance human health and nourish people’s life (养生).
Unfortunately, this very holistic and practical way to do philosophy largely disappeared, or was cornered into a minor stream of philosophy for a long time since humanity’s modern transformation starting around 16th or 17th century. There are many reasons for this, but for the one that is still quite visible today, I would highlight that there is an exceeding division and compartmentalization of human knowledge and disciplines in the contemporary academia, which is not good for recovering this therapeutic dimension of philosophy. In the contemporary institutions of research and higher education, scientists are doing sciences, humanists are doing humanities, and philosophy becomes mostly a standing-alone department, the major jobs of which include teaching and research focusing upon the study of the history of philosophy, and predominantly upon the teaching of the skills of rational and critical thinking to its students. In other words, philosophy is mostly understood and practiced as a purely intellectual endeavor, which is not quite in line with its original nature as a comprehensive and holistic way of life.
However, in the recent decades, there has been a breakthrough made by philosophers in their engagement with the discipline of psychology and the practice of psychotherapy, and its result is the creation of a robust form of practical philosophy titled as “philosophical counseling” or “Logic-Based Therapy” (LBT) which revives the very ancient practical dimension of philosophy. And why and how it is created can be explained briefly as follows.
In the contemporary practices of psychotherapy, the methods of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in general, and the Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) in particular are where the new philosophical method of therapy finds its affinity. In CBT or RET, human behaviors are understood in a scientific framework of cause and effect, or stimuli and responses. In other words, an event triggers a certain form of spontaneous thought, and the thought furthermore stimulates a certain form of emotional reaction within people’s mind and heart. These emotions are reflected into people’s behaviors which will furthermore enhance the mentioned cognitive-emotive reactionary loops, and eventually form certain stable straits of people’s personality. For instance, if a man suffers from depression, he may over-interpret and over-react to a minor life event such as the rude words he heard from passing drivers on the road, and think therefore his life is indeed worth condemning, which may lead to his regular lethargy or extreme low energy in certain moments of daily life. Therefore, a normal treatment of mental problems such as depression according to the methods of CBT or RET is that through communicating and observing clients’ thoughts and behaviors, the therapists in question will identify the deep cognitive root of the clients’ self-defeating emotions, and then, using more rational or realistic ideas to rectify the cognitive cause, viz., the thoughts by which the clients interpret the triggering events. Finally, therapists will design a new pattern of behaviors to help the clients to form the needed habits to eventually transform their unwanted character traits. In some cases, if the mental problems are diagnosed as mental disorders which have their embodied root in the physical constitution of one’s brain, the therapists would have to prescribe some drug or medication to deliver the treatment.
During the process of this type of psychotherapy, there are four major moments that philosophy can play a very distinctive role which eventually leads to the creation of a new method of Logic-Based Therapy, or philosophical counseling.
Firstly, the cognitive root of human emotions is manifested, explicitly or implicitly, as a certain form of reasoning. For instance, from the premise that one heard rude words from passing drivers to the conclusion that one’s life is worthless is an emotional reasoning. Because of the professional training that philosophers get in logic, argumentation, and reasoning, they are equipped with a greater skill set than normal practitioners of psychotherapy to discern the underlying, sometimes very intricate reasoning process of clients’ self-defeating emotions.
Secondly, while providing new ideas to rectify the cognitive root of clients’ self-defeating emotions, psychotherapists normally resort to common sense or their own personal opinions. However, in contrast, philosophers have their gigantic treasure of philosophical ideas, theories, and traditions starting from ancient Greece all the way down to contemporary society to provide the needed rectifying ideas. More importantly, the expansion of philosophical curriculum into non-Western traditions and underrepresented groups, which is starting to get its momentum in the U.S. in the recent decade, has added even more options for those therapeutic ideas. Following the instance just mentioned, to recover the depressed man’s self-confidence upon the worth of his life, we have a panoply of philosophical ideas in the West and East about dignity, individuality, and autonomy to offer. Because of this, philosophers can tailor their communication with clients so as to target their specific cultural backgrounds, belief systems or growing experiences. This will make the therapeutic process more personal and effective.
Thirdly, closely related to the second point, many philosophical ideas tend to be comprehensive and profound. This enables philosophers not only to be able to use them to tackle particular issues in clients’ lives; they can actually also help reframe the whole worldview of a client’s so as to have them enjoy a very positive attitude towards human life in general. In other words, rather than merely treating negative issues in clients’ lives case by case, philosophers can rely upon their knowledge of philosophical ideas and traditions to provide holistic and positive visions for human life.
Last but not least, the affinity of philosophy with the disciplines of theology and religious studies, and its historically intertwined nature with religions and varying spiritual traditions in different cultures also provide an additional treasure of practical methods for philosophers to devise needed behavioral patterns to transform clients’ characters. For instance, contemplative methods, such as meditation, yoga, visualization, auto-suggestion and so on, can all be used to enhance the connection between true philosophical ideas, positive emotions and desirable behaviors.
In a word, since philosophy can play such a distinctive role on top of the therapeutic benefits of CBT or RET, why not create a whole new kind of therapeutic method to serve humanity’s distinctive needs? So, here we are, the rationale for the creation of philosophical counseling.
Based upon all the aforementioned moments of philosophical counseling, it has two most salient perspectives to look at human beings, and to furthermore treat issues of mental health:
First, philosophical counseling does not look at a human being as determined by a mechanism of cause and effect described above. However, it is primarily concerned with how the process of emotional reasoning and its guiding ideas can be justified. In this way, philosophical counseling perceives human beings as autonomous agents who can rely upon their own ability of thinking and behavioral change to overcome obstacle of human flourishing. Ideally, everyone can become a self-appointed therapist to take care of themselves using such a philosophical method.
Second, the typical “prescription” that a philosopher gave for the sake of therapy is to read a poem, novel or philosophical treatise, watch a movie, listen to some music, write some journals, do some guided meditation, participate certain social gatherings, or change a certain behavior, etc. But no drugs. This means if mental problems are discerned by the philosophers as having deteriorated into mental disorders according to professional standards prevalent in the area of psychotherapy, they need to refer the clients to other professional mental health workers. In other words, an alliance of philosophical consultants with traditional psychotherapists will be more than helpful to serve clients’ needs.
Good, this is all I want to say about philosophical counseling in this first meeting of the course. The concrete method of philosophical counseling that I will teach for this course is to follow the procedure of Logic-Based Therapy (LBT) invented and practiced by Dr. Elliot Cohen, the founder of the National Philosophical Counseling Association in the U.S. I will also draw upon my own knowledge of philosophies and religions, and my own practicing experience as a certified Logic-Based Therapist to modify some aspects of the procedure. However, the purpose of this course is not to train you to become a professional philosophical consultant. To take this as a profession, you clearly need more additional philosophical trainings. However, I will expose you to the basics of the skill of philosophical counseling, and thus, provide a practical medium for you to anchor everything that you will learn about philosophies, and especially ethics, down the road.
Eugen Fisher, “How to Practise Philosophy as Therapy: Philosophical Therapy and Therapeutic Philosophy,” Metaphilosophy, Vol. 42, Nos. 1-2 (January 2011): please read its pp. 49-57.
Quiz:
1, Human soul is like a chariot driven by human will to manage the pull of two sometimes counteracting horses, one of which is reason and another is emotion. Which philosopher does this view belong to?
A, Plato B, Aristotle C, Socrates
2, A good human life should solely focus upon managing things that humans can control, but disregard things human cannot. Which school of thought does this idea represent?
A, Marxism B, Stoicism C, Humanism
3, “Half-day reading, and Half-day quiet-sitting.” What lifestyle does this slogan represent?
A, Neo-Confucianism B, Daoism C, Judaism
4, what is the major reason that philosophy is pursued as mainly a purely intellectual endeavor today?
A, division of human knowledge in the current academia B, the influence of democratic politics C, philosophy is a purely intellectual endeavor since ancient Greece.
5, During engaging with what disciplines and practices, the method of philosophical counseling was created?
6, In comparison with CBT or RET, what are the characteristics of philosophical counseling?
A, philosophical counseling is more adept at uncovering the process of emotional reasoning B, philosophical counseling provides more comprehensive philosophical ideas to guide clients. C, philosophical counseling can positively influence clients’ overall attitudes towards their life D, philosophical counseling uses comprehensive contemplative methods, religious or not, to help clients build connection between ideas, emotions and behaviors E, philosophical counseling understands human agents as autonomous beings who have amazing powers of thinking and self-healing. F, philosophical counseling does not use medication to treat mental disorders.
7, Can you raise one example of philosophical ideas or theories, which once helped you cope with issues in your life?
Bin Song 