Philosophy in the Contemporary World

Volume 7, Issue 4, Winter 2000

Philosophy and the Marketplace

Jon Borowicz
Pages 43-49

Socrates in the Agora
Philosophy as Private Good and Public Act

Philosophical counseling recommends to its clients the activity of philosophical dialogue. The process of thought in dialogue differs from private thought in the greater physical constraints placed upon dialogue. We as yet do not have an understanding of the embodied activity of philosophy sufficient to make viable the marketing of philosophical counseling as a service. The paper is a contribution to such an understanding. The paper considers the notion of a philosophical life and criticizes the possibility of a profession of philosophical counseling. It ends with a tentative defense of philosophical counseling as a marketable service.