PHILOSOPHICAL INSPIRATIONS IN COUNSELING (Filozoficzne inspiracje w poradnictwie)

The aim of the paper is, on the one hand, to present the philosophical dimension of contemporary counseling and, on the other, to sketch philosophical inspirations that (directly or indirectly) have influenced its current shape. In the first case, the authoress presents those areas that combine philosophy and counseling, depicts crucial (from the perspective of counseling) philosophical concepts regarding human being, and stresses the similarities of questions raised in the fields of philosophy and counseling. Issues that arise in counseling can be treated as existential (i.e. meaning of human activities, meaning of life, nature of interpersonal relations), epistemological (understanding of the world, of oneself and the others) and ethical (making moral choices, being governed by values and rules, the ideas of happiness). Philosophy can also bring some potential for criticism (towards static reality) into the field of counseling and deepen reflectiveness as a certain attitude in life. Philosophical counseling can serve as a good example of such reflective dimension of counseling oriented towards entire human life. In the second case, the authoress describes philosophical concepts and trends that can be helpful in solving problems through counseling, namely phenomenology, hermeneutics, existentialism and the philosophy of dialogue. In the paper, she employs the method of analyzing both counseling and philosophical literature, supplementing it with sociological and pedagogical texts.