Lou Marinoff
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Lou Marinoff (born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is a philosopher and spokesperson for the profession of philosophic counseling.
Marinoff, a Commonwealth Scholar originally from Canada, earned his Doctorate in Philosophy of Science at University College London. He held research fellowships at University College and at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and was Moderator of the Canadian Business and Professional Ethics Network at UBC’s Center for Applied Ethics. He was a Lecturer in Philosophy at UBC and Capilano College. He is currently Associate Professor and Deputy Chair of Philosophy at the City College of New York.
Lou has been a philosophical counselor and consultant since 1991. His clients include individuals, educational institutions, professional associations, corporations, and governments. He is past president of the American Society for Philosophy, Counseling and Psychotherapy (ASPCP) before breaking with that organization to found the American Philosophical Practitioners Association (APPA). He is a Fellow of the Institute for Local Government at the University of Arizona, a Fellow of The Aspen Institute, Faculty of the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, and Faculty of the World Economic Forum.
Lou publishes regularly in decision theory, ethics, philosophical practice, and other scholarly fields. He is the author of two international bestsellers, including Plato Not Prozac (HarperCollins, NY, 1999), aimed at a popular audience and published in twenty-five languages. His textbook, Philosophical Practice (Academic Press, NY, 2001), provides a more technical "insider’s view" of the profession. His latest popular book, Therapy for the Sane (formerly The Big Questions), is published in English by Bloomsbury (New York and London, 2003), and in many other languages.
[edit] Criticism and controversy
Lou Marinoff has been criticized by other philosophically-oriented members of the helping professions for being too pop-philosophy and for not respecting the established disciplines of psychology and psychiatry. Many reviewers of his books find them more focused on denigrating clinical psychology and psychiatry than on offering real philosophical alternatives. Elliot D. Cohen of the American Society for Philosophy Counseling and Psychotherapy has stated "The biggest obstacle to philosophical counseling's growth in the U.S. is its acceptance by the established mental health fields...With Marinoff certifying people who have no clinical training, they're saying, 'Philosophers don't know anything about mental health, and they're going to serve as an endangerment to clients."[citation needed]
Shlomit Schuster, an Israeli practitioner, has called "Dr. Marinoff's overpopularizing presentation a worldwide embarrassment for the profession."[citation needed]
David O'Donaghue, a licensed psychologist with a doctoral background in philosophy, says that Marinoff is "not a scholar, he's not a guy who should be leading a country" in philosophical counseling. O'Donaghue says that he considers Marinoff's three-day certification efforts "ludicrous."[citation needed]
Defenders reply that those like Schuster who attack Marinoff in particular and philosophical practitioners in general are too narrow-minded and conservative to be spokespeople for the profession. For example, in an e-mail correspondence with New Jersey philosophical practitioner, Eric Bryant, Schuster refused to endorse Bryant's practice because Bryant uses the I Ching in his counseling sessions. Schuster said to Bryant, "I believe...people should use their minds to get answers and not to throw dice or use the I-Ching. Could you consider removing the I-Ching from your life? It would help you a lot."[1]
Some defenders reply that most detractors are individuals whose personal fortunes are threatened by competition. In addition the certifications conferred by the APPA are to those who are already substantially qualified to do philosophical counseling, as they are already professional philosophers. Thus, these defenders argue, the certifications are merely aids to assist the transition from the pedagogical environments in which philosophers are usually found (university classrooms) to a setting in which certain additional skills and practical knowledges are or may be useful. From this perspective, it is a mistake to worry that APPA certifications are "ludicrous" as O'Donaghue asserts. In fact, such an assertion may arise because of a questionable comparison between psychology/psychotherapy and philosophical counseling. Philosophical counseling borrows certain insights from psychology and psychotherapy, but is substantially different from them. While the former is concerned with "diagnosis" and "treatment" of mental/emotional pathologies, the latter is concerned with those who are not suffering from such pathologies, but who are attempting to resolve significant existential issues in their lives. That is what philosophy has always, at least in part, been about. That said, philosophical counseling is no threat or competitor to psychology or psychotherapy, but an alternative resource to help people address or resolve life problems. Further, this means that Cohen's assertion that the acceptance of philosophical counseling in the United States depends upon its acceptance by the professional psychology community is questionable, as philosophical counseling can stand on its own and conduct itself according to its own professional standards. But this may mean that philosophical counseling would do well to frame itself more in line with a pedagogical model rather than a medical model, and resist the urge to actually seek acceptance by professionals who are not philosophers.
O'Donaghue writes:"A three day training after which a certificate to do philosophical counseling is granted is ludicrous because it puts philosophical counseling on the level of any new age workshop or dog and pony show that 'grants' some bogus certificate but does not insure any quality services to the public. Marinoff has ignored the long tradition of research, skills training and education necessary to develop counseling competencies. Philosophers in their ivory towers don't often have the empathic or listening or real life experiences to be effective counselors dealing with real life human problems unless they get additional training and experience. Marinoff has destroyed whatever credibility philosophical counseling might have attained by making arrogant claims and alienating other helping professions."
