What is philosophical counseling?

“The first opinion that occurs to us when we are suddenly asked about a matter is usually not our own, but only the customary one, appropriate to our caste, position, or parentage; our own opinions seldom swim near the surface.” -Nietzsche

In continuing to think about what “philosophical counseling” is—what makes it different from all the other annoying forms of therapy and counseling out there—I thought about this quote from Nietzsche. I think this gets to the core of philosophical counseling, in a way.

It’s about finding out what your real opinions are, and then thinking about whether or not they are good, accurate, useful, even beautiful, etc. As Nietzsche says, we often think we know what our opinions are—we think that we know what we think—but we really don’t. This is also, in a way, the point of Socrates’ style of questioning—finding people (sophists) who claimed to know something, and to have valuable opinions, and then, through systematic questioning, showing how they don’t actually know what they think. (This similarity in conceptions of philosophy between Nietzsche and Socrates is somewhat ironic, since Nietzsche hated Socrates—but also not ironic, because Nietzsche admitted that Socrates is “so close to me”).

Philosophy is, in large part, the cutting through of the thoughts on the top of your mind, which you may believe are your real thoughts, but they aren’t.