Philosophical Practice

Instructor:
Elliot D. Cohen, Ph.D.
Phone:  772-462-4700
E-mail: ecohen@ircc.edu

Texts:
Baird and Kaufmann, From Plato to Derrida (PD)
Albert Ellis, A New Guide to Rational Living (New Guide)

Introduction:  Philosophy as Therapy

Elliot Cohen, Philosophy with Teeth:  The Be Wedding of Philosophical and Psychological Practice

Jon Mills, Philosophical Counseling as Psychotherapy:  An Eclectic Approach

Elliot Cohen,  Logic-Based Therapy:  The New Philosophical Frontier for REBT

Ellis, New Guide, Chs. 1-2.

Rational Therapy (handout)

The Five Steps of Logic-Based Therapy (LBT)

1. Building Metaphysical Security

The Metaphysics of Logic-Based Therapy

Feeling Secure (handout)

Plato, Republic, Books VI - VII (PD)

Augustine, City of God  (PD)

Epictetus, Manual (PD)

Epicurus, Letter and Principle Doctrines (PD)

2. Confronting Evil

Confronting Evil, Growing Stronger (Handout)

Nietzsche (selections in PD)

Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus (PD)

Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism (SD)

3. Building Respect

Building Respect (handout)

Leibniz, Discourse on Metaphysics (PD)

Kant Foundation of the Metaphysics of Morals (PD)

Mill, Utilitarianism (PD)

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (PD)

Hobbes, Leviathan (PD)

4. Authenticity

Being your own person (handout)

Mill, On Liberty

Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism (SD)

Nietzsche (selections in PD)

William James, The Meaning of Truth

5. Temperance

Controlling Yourself (handout)

Ellis, New Guide, "Controlling Your own Destiny," Ch 14

Plato Republic Book IV (PD)

Bentham, Principles of Morals and Legislation, Chs. 1, 4

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book 2, (PD)

6. Moral Creativity

Becoming Morally Creative (handout)

Kierkegaard, Fear & Trembling, and "Truth is Subjectivity" (PD)

William James, The Meaning of Truth

Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism (SD)

7. Empowering Others

Empowering Others (handout)

Hobbes, Leviathan (PD)

J.S. Mill, The Subjection of Women

Carl Rogers, To Be the Self that Truly Is (Audio 55 min.)

8. Connecting with Others

Connecting with Others (Handout)

Descartes, Meditations (PD)

Assignments:

1. Write a 500-1000 paper that shows how the work of a  philosopher/s can be used to construct a philosophical antidote to one of the irrational rules of reasoning discussed in class and/or your readings--demanding perfection ("metaphysical insecurity"), awfulizing, damnation (global, self, others), etc.  Remember that the main idea of philosophical practice is to help people solve their problems of living.  Accordingly, your discussion would best be anchored in a discussion of a particular problem that a people have--for example, death and dying, depression over some misfortune, lack of self-esteem, an anger problem, intense anxiety over performing in public, etc.

2. Write a 500-1000 paper that applies the five logic-based steps in dealing with a behavioral and/or emotional problem.  Show how the emotion can be identified by the E= (O + R) formula, how the premises of emotional reasoning can then be constructed out of these same components.  How irrational premises can be identified and refuted; how philosophy can be used to construct potent antidotes; and how willpower can be cultivated and used to overcome the behavioral/emotional problem. 

Here is an excellent example of a student paper that applies the five-logic based step to a behavioral/emotional problem. 

Practice Scenarios for Class Analysis:

Middle aged woman who has been a housewife all her life.  Husband has left her for a younger woman.  Her children are grown up and have moved away. She is feeling lost--anxiety of not knowing what she is supposed to be doing with the rest of her life. 

Argus, now a college freshman never seemed to fit in with his peers and often found himself to be the butt of their mockery and pranks throughout his grade school years.   Recently, a group of gang members he met hanging around campus have invited him to become a member of their gang.  The gang is into drug dealing and using and has engaged in armed robbery and other illegal activities.  They have asked Argus to drop out of college, have the name of the gang branded across his chest, and junk his Ford Focus for a Harley Davidson.  Argus is seriously considering joining up.

Lucinda has been going out with Bartholomew for one month and now he has asked her to make a commit not to date anyone else.  Lucinda likes Barth very much but she is nevertheless  uncomfortable with this proposal and is inclined toward breaking off the relationship.  In the past five years, Lucinda has consistently broken off her relationships as soon as any attempt at getting had been made.  

Marvin has a tendency to explode into a rage when others say or do things he does not like.  In fact, he once served five years for brutally attacking a person who laughed at him when he rolled a gutter ball at the bowling alley.  Married and divorced, he has a history of spousal abuse including throwing his former wife down the stairs.

Sam has a history of quitting at things as soon as they became difficult or challenging.  He has gone from job to job, each time giving up as soon as he had confronted an obstacle.  His most recent endeavor was to break into writing by writing a couple of brief editorials for the local newspapers.  But when the articles were rejected, he decided that writing wasn't for him and that he would do something else--maybe now he would try his hand at becoming an Olympic ping pong player.

J.R., a social worker, has received notification from her employer that she is going to be laid off in two weeks due to government cutbacks.  In the interim he/she has been going to interviews at other agencies and so far has had no success.  J.R. has two children and a spouse whose earnings are not sufficient to cover the cost of living.  As a result JR has had trouble sleeping and eating  and has been ruminating about his/her situation.

Bobby, a college student,  has had trouble getting along with his peers.  He was recently withdrawn from one of his psychology courses after he/she punched another student who was working with Bobby on a group assignment.  Bobby believed that the other student was on the wrong track (the student wanted to copy the gist of their report from an online source) and Bobby believed that this would jeopardize his grade.  When the student insisted on copy the report, Bobby hauled off and punched him in the nose in the middle of class.  Bobb has had a similar history throughout his life.  According to Bobby, "Some people are such assholes that you just can't reason with them."

Frank and his girlfriend Francine have been going together for about two months. Recently, Frank has become increasingly angry with his girlfriend Francine.  According to Frank, at first Francine was a lot of fun.  She would always laugh at his jokes and tell him how smart she thought he was.  Recently, however, she sometimes told him that his jokes weren't funny.  She also has begun to give her own opinions about things and to disagree with his political views (which were staunchly neoconservative).  She  also began to refuse to do certain things.  For example, she refused to see the new Mel Gibson movie because she did not want to support a man who was anti-Semitic.  Frank exploded when she said this, calling her a "stupid ass" and a "bleeding heart liberal."

Harriet has just found out that Bob, her husband of one year, is gay.  Now she is blaming herself and questioning her own femininity.  After all, "what kind of woman cannot even satisfy her man."  She is contemplating trying to win him back, hoping that she will be able to convince Bob to go straight.