The Philosophical Diagnosis Revised: Developing an Idea in Philosophical Practice

Abstract

In this paper, I will discuss the idea of a diagnosis in philosophical consultations and the critique it met. A contemporary philosopher, Deleuze, defined philosophy as the art of producing concepts and that is exactly what we do in philosophical consultations. Such a philosophical concept or (reflexive) idea can be called a diagnosis. A philosophical diagnoses should be distinguished from other kind of diagnoses (medical, psychological, financial, organizational, etc.). Following Achenbach, founding father of private philosophical practices, a philosophical diagnosis does not point at what there is like for example a medical diagnosis points out disease, but expresses what there is not, for example what to do while being ill. A philosophical diagnosis is a concept produced in a consultation, expressing phronesis or situational wisdom. It serves as a description of a problem, question or theme in philosophical terms on the one hand and provides a lesson in terms of a new way to look at one-self and/or situations on the other hand. It points to a way of philosophizing and serves as cornerstone for a metaphor providing meaning to the individual as outcome of the consultation process.