sexta-feira, 29 de julho de 2011

Aconselhamento Filosófico



A Filosofia, a Pessoa e os desafios de ser


CONSULTA FILOSÓFICA: 1ª sessão

"Se condicionar a minha acção pela avaliação do impacto da mesma nos outros, 
perco auto-determinação?"

Esta pergunta foi o resultado da primeira consulta, cujo objectivo é problematizar e conceptualizar a necessidade da mesma. A fuga à confusão deve começar pela depuração conceptual, objectivando os motivos promotores da dúvida, problema ou situação através da elaboração crítica da questão-motor do processo.

Interessado? Siga o LINK

As consultas são realizadas por um profissional certificado pela American Philosophical Practitioners Association (APPA), Institut de Pratiques Philosophiques e Associação Portuguesa de Aconselhamento Ético e Filosófico (APAEF).

segunda-feira, 25 de julho de 2011

The ESSAYS of Michel de MONTAIGNE (1533-1592)

Translated by Charles Cotton, Edited by William Carew Hazlitt; 107 essays organized in three books. Published in 1580, enlarged in 1588 and still not completed to his satisfaction at the time of his death.
READ IT HERE.

"Given the huge breadth of his readings, Montaigne could have been ranked among the most erudite humanists of the XVIth century. But in the Essays, his aim is above all to exercise his own judgment properly. Readers who might want to convict him of ignorance would find nothing to hold against him, he said, for he was exerting his natural capacities, not borrowed ones. He thought that too much knowledge could prove a burden, preferring to exert his ‘natural judgment’ to displaying his erudition."   Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

"Everyone calls barbarity what he is not accustomed to."
"Life in itself is neither good nor evil, it is the place of good and evil, according to what you make it."
"The continuous work of our life is to build death."
"If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because it was he, because it was I."
"Kings and philosophers defecate, and so do ladies."

sexta-feira, 22 de julho de 2011

FILOSOFIA NAS ORGANIZAÇÕES

A prática filosófica no contexto organizacional
  

Colaboração e intervenção em contextos organizacionais.

Descubra e construa o lugar da Filosofia na sua empresa ou associação.

 
 
 
Contacte-nos e pensemos como podemos colaborar! 

quinta-feira, 21 de julho de 2011

Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.

Sou Homem, nada do que é humano me é estranho. 1

A qualidade da nossa vida depende da qualidade dos nossos pensamentos. 
Marco Aurélio

entelequia.filosofiapratica@gmail.com

1- TERÊNCIO ( Publius Terentius Afer)(ca.195 A..C. - ca. 159 A. C.),  Heaautontimorumenos (O Punidor de Si Mesmo), v.77.

terça-feira, 19 de julho de 2011

CCVF - Filosofia para Crianças: À Descoberta ... de Lugares Escondidos II

Pela segunda vez fomos à Descoberta de Lugares Escondidos, que a Comunidade de Investigação de hoje definiu como sítios ocultos da visão. Desta feita, e não sabemos bem como, o que nos surpreendeu e que quisemos vorazmente DESCOBRIR foram o Cérebro e a Mente!!! Onde se esconde cada um deles, primeiro, e o que são, em segundo lugar; ou talvez o que são e onde se escondem… Confessamos que tivemos dificuldade em optar, por isso, fomos simplesmente vendo até onde a nossa reflexão/debate/categorização/descoberta nos levaria…, e levou longe, muito longe!

O parêntesis referirá apenas que, de entre outros adjectivos, esta sessão se revelou verdadeiramente lúdica! As idades oscilavam entre os 8 e os 12 anos, o que contrariamente a definir-se como um potencial obstáculo para uma boa sessão, serviu para a Comunidade de Investigação ir fazendo pausas, para os mais crescidos explicarem conceitos e acepções aos mais novos, que demonstravam dificuldades em seguir-nos o rasto, e, por outro lado, para a nossa Investigação se submeter ela mesma a pausas de teste de coerência e rigor.

Detivemo-nos, então, em dois conceitos: Cérebro e Mente. A distinção fez-se notar, sem muita luta ou confusão neuronal. O Cérebro é concreto e a Mente é abstracta (Sim, foram estes os conceitos produzidos pela Comunidade!!!) A Mente Forma as Frases e o Cérebro dá as Palavras. Sendo as frases o conteúdo e as palavras a sua materialização, eis a ligação de interdependência entre estes dois conceitos. Concluímos, ainda, que a MenteSentido às coisas; da Mente vêm a Inteligência e a CONSCIÊNCIA!

Complicação: o que é isto da CONSCIÊNCIA? Fomos meter-nos numa alhada conceptual!!! E eis que um cérebro/mente de 10 anos resolve o conflito conceptual e quase ininteligível no qual estávamos a entrar. A Consciência é a Parte da Mente (há quem lhe chame Alma, mas vamos escolher Mente, afirmou um outro cérebro/mente…) que nos permite DISTINGUIR O BEM DO MAL!

Como co-investigadora da Comunidade de Investigação do Centro Cultural Vila Flor (Guimarães) creio que hoje verdadeiramente Descobri/mos Lugares Escondidos!

Obrigada a todos por esta sessão!

ACONSELHAMENTO E CONSULTADORIA FILOSÓFICA

Actividade educacional que propõe a clientes individuais a utilização de métodos, teorias e abordagens filosóficas para solucionar ou gerir problemas associados à existência humana.

O que é a  Consulta Filosófica? Aqui.
Informações e Marcações: entelequia.filosofiapratica@gmail.com

segunda-feira, 18 de julho de 2011

Nova oferta de Dinamização Filosófica: Comunicação e Debate " Da aplicação da Filosofia no século XXI "

OPORTUNIDADES PARA A PRÁTICA FILOSÓFICA
- Da aplicação da Filosofia no século XXI
- Duração: 2 horas (comunicação introdutória - 30 minutos; debate - 90 minutos)

- Destinatários: Escolas, Empresas, Livrarias, Bibliotecas, Associações e Centros Culturais, Cafés...

- Informações e Marcações: entelequia.filosofiapratic​a@gmail.com

CONTACTE-NOS!

sexta-feira, 15 de julho de 2011

Programa À Descoberta ... de Pés, Passos e Caminhos

No Programa À Descoberta desta semana o desafio prendia-se com Pés, Passos e Caminhos…
Pareceu-nos importante, antes de mais, a distinção de conceitos: Pés são o instrumento; Passos são o Movimento e Caminho é Por onde se vai para se chegar a um destino...
A distinção entre rota e caminho foi também uma das nossas preocupações; assim sendo, concluímos que um caminho é terrestre e que uma rota se aplica a um caminho aéreo ou marítimo... não esquecendo que para que saibamos como seguir uma rota é evidente que utilizamos Coordenadas!
Prosseguimos o desafio com a seguinte questão: ‘O que quer dizer seguir os passos de alguém?’
Duas faixas etárias, duas propostas de exploração da questão distintas:
- os mais novos (6-8 anos) concluíram que esta questão de seguir os passos de alguém queria dizer que íamos pelo mesmo caminho (terrestre, aéreo ou marítimo) e chegávamos ao mesmo destino; sendo que nesta acepção destino quer dizer fim/objectivo/percurso/destino de viagem propriamente dito.
- os mais crescidos (9-11 anos) sublinharam a genialidade deste nosso debate, “Estes abdominais e flexões dos neurónios estavam a ser mesmo fixes!”. Relativamente à questão de seguir os passos de alguém foi evidente e unânime a resposta! Não é possível! Pois cada um de nós segue o seu destino! (e aqui destino no sentido de fortuna/sorte/fado) Quando muito, aquilo que acontece quando se diz que seguimos, por exemplo, os passos dos nossos pais é que fizemos coisas parecidas, tais como seguir a mesma profissão, mas é só isso!!!
Parece-nos simples, não tenhamos ilusões quanto a seguir os passos de alguém ou desejar fervorosamente que a nossa descendência siga os nossos passos ou os dos nossos pais!! O destino é coisa individual e irrepetível!! Simples…

Alguns contributos da Filosofia para Crianças

 
Conheça o documento da UNESCO: Filosofia, Escola de Liberdade

segunda-feira, 11 de julho de 2011

PIERRE HADOT (1922 - 2010) - A FILOSOFIA COMO FORMA DE VIDA

- Philosophy as a Way of Life, Oxford, Blackwells, 1995.
. a history of spiritual exercices from Socrates to Foucault;
. a discussion on different conceptions of philosophy, their relation with the theory and practice of spiritual exercises;
. a provocation that leads us to ask the question of what it means to philosophize today.

- Exercices spirituels et philosophie antique. Paris, Etudes augustiniennes, 1981.

"(...)Self control is fundamentally being attentive to oneself: an unrelaxing vigilance for the Stoics, the renunciation of unnecessary desires for the Epicureans.(...)"

"In all schools, for various reasons, philosophy will be especially a meditation upon death and an attentive concentration on the present moment in order to enjoy it or live it in full counsciousness.(...)"

"In matters of philosophical teaching, writing is only an aid to memory, a last resort that will never replace the living word."

Pierre HADOT, Philosophy as a way of life: prodigious historical scholarship, rigorous philosophical argumentation, an human bridge from ancient philosophy to the 21st century homo technologicus.
WHAT IS A PHILOSOPHICAL LIFE?

sexta-feira, 8 de julho de 2011

NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

"One of the most influential pieces of fiction in Western European history. It has attracted attention for many reasons. 1) It contains an all-out assault on Enlightenment rationalism and the idea of progress which foreshadows many such assaults in the mid-to-late twentieth century. 2) It is an outstanding example of Dostoyevsky's psychological skills, depicting a character motivated by many contradictory impulses. Such contradictions were not clearly understood in the nineteenth century, but Freud and modern psychology generally were to explore in depth the irrational bases of much human thought. 3) One of the most salient characteristics of the Underground Man is his profound self-contempt combined with an exquisitely sensitive ego--a combination that is much discussed these days. 4) The story contains one of the first characters whose childhood experiences have led him to fear love and intimacy even though he longs for them: another topic of intense interest currently. 5) It portrays one of the first anti-heroes in fiction, a protagonist utterly lacking every trait of the Romantic hero and living out a futile life on the margins of society. Such figures were to dominate much serious fiction in the mid-twentieth century, notably Albert Camus' Meursault in The Stranger."
NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND

WHO BETTER LOOKED IN THE EYE OF THE HUMAN SOUL?
WHO SUNK DEEPER IN THE DEPTHS OF REALITY?

segunda-feira, 4 de julho de 2011

FILOSOFIA PARA CRIANÇAS: À DESCOBERTA DAS CRIATURAS DO CÉU

04/07/2011    Duração da sessão: 75 minutos.

Iniciámos a sessão procurando definir os conceitos em causa: criatura e céu. Estabelecidas as definições provisórias e operativas do grupo, o próximo passo foi elencar as múltiplas criaturas do céu.  Em estilo brainstorm, rapidamente o quadro ficou preenchido.

A enorme mancha de conceitos exige organização. Que tal um exercício de categorização?

Dialogando chegámos lá. Assim, 3 categorias de criaturas: seres vivos (reais), máquinas feitas pelo homem e seres fantásticos (imaginários).
A primeira marcada pela biologia, a segunda pela aventura da técnica, a terceira com surpreendentes referências a mitologias clássicas e contributos do mundo da animação infantil.

(Unicórnio voador???? Aceso foi o debate relativo à capacidade voadora dos unicórnios.  A votação democrática conclui esse micro-debate, decidindo a impossibilidade do unicórnio cruzar os céus.)

À primeira categoria convinham conceitos como falcão, pica-pau, morcego, vespa, libelinha, águia, mosca, papagaio, a inevitável borboleta, o pink flamingo e muitos outros seres esvoaçantes.
Naves, aviões, helicópteros, dirigíveis, para-quedas  e afins preencheram a segunda.
Criaturas com nomes aparentemente japoneses e de impossível registo escrito marcaram presença, gárgulas, vampiros, cavalos alados, fadas, o Dumbo, banshee (!), os grifos, a fénix enchiam a categoria fantástica. (Inesperado conhecimento das mitologias clássicas para crianças de 10-11 anos. Uma vez mais sou recordado: nunca subestimar as crianças e deixar os pressupostos à porta.)

Uma questão se tornava premente:
Se são seres imaginários, como os imaginamos? 
Como formamos essas ideias? 
 
(David Hume guia a pesquisa destas crianças e Descartes tenta sussurrar os seus 3 tipos de ideias, pormenorizando as factícias. A sua competição particular prossegue!)

O mecanismo de formação destas ideias foi rapidamente descodificado: o segredo está na combinação de elementos das várias ideias. Tal segredo foi metaforizado como a chave da imaginação
 
Experimentaram, descobriram e actualizaram a abertura a mundos possíveis.

Concluindo a sessão e relaxando o músculo intelectual, novo desafio

Escolher 4 criaturas do céu; Imaginar uma nova criatura do céu composta por características das 4 escolhidas; Breve fundamentação da escolha através de 3 linhas síntese; Desenho representando a novel criatura.

Assim informo, quando perscrutarem o céu estejam atentos ao Foclak, ao Difalampi, ao Flavescolipica, ao Papiflabu, ao Abelame e ao meu favorito, o temível e poliglota Vesrugaio.

Obrigado por esta excelente sessão.

sábado, 2 de julho de 2011

WHAT IS PHILOSOPHICAL COUNSELLING by PETER B. RAABE

It is commonly held that philosophical counselling began in 1981 when Dr. Gerd Achenbach opened his practice near Cologne, Germany. Today there are philosophical counselors, professional associations, and certification programs in the Netherlands, Canada, Norway, Austria, France, Switzerland, Israel, Great Britain, the United States, and many other countries. But the idea that philosophy can be used to alleviate distress, help individuals come to a better understanding of themselves and their world, and improve a person's life dates back to antiquity.
More than two thousand years ago Epicurus characterized philosophy as "therapy of the soul." He maintained that the arguments made by a philosopher are just empty if they do not relieve any human suffering. The Stoics also made it clear that philosophy is not merely the memorization of abstract theories or the exegesis of texts, but learning the art of living well. Socrates used philosophy not to teach concepts but to encourage his discussion partners to examine their thinking and attitudes about almost every issue imaginable.
Descartes and Spinoza saw philosophy as the "practice of wisdom." Nietzsche complained that philosophy had degenerated into a boring academic pursuit. He was waiting for a "philosopher physician" who would muster the courage "to risk the proposition: That what was at stake in all philosophizing up to this point was not at all 'truth' but something else -- let us say, health, future, growth, power, life."
The twentieth century's most influential philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein, asked rhetorically, "What is the use of studying philosophy if all it does for you is to enable you to talk with some plausibility about some abstruse questions in logic, etc., and if it does not improve your thinking about the important questions of everyday life?" John Dewey, the highly regarded American philosopher of education, wrote earlier this century that philosophy would show its true value "only when it ceases to be a device for dealing with the problems of philosophers and becomes a method, cultivated by philosophers, for dealing with the problems of men." Philosophical counselors have willingly accepted the challenge to take philosophy out of the lecture hall and present it to the real world.
Simply put, philosophical counselling consists of a trained philosopher helping an individual deal with a problem or an issue that is of concern to that individual. Philosophical counselors know that the majority of people are quite capable of resolving most of their problems on a day-to-day basis either by themselves or with the help of significant others. It is when problems become too complex -- as, for example, when values seem to conflict, when facts appear contradictory, when reasoning about a problem becomes trapped within a circle, or when life seems unexpectedly meaningless -- that a trained philosopher can be of greater help than the average friend or family member.
The philosophical counselor often deals with individuals who are dissatisfied with other forms of counselling they have had. She sees individuals whose minds are sound but whose thinking is confused or obstructed. The philosophical counselor understands that most individuals live by many unexamined (rather than unconscious) assumptions and values that can affect thinking and behavior in puzzling or distressing ways. She also sees a person's thinking as being informed by childhood experiences but not determined by them. Through a series of dialogues the philosophical counselor helps the client come to an awareness of hidden biases, unspoken assumptions, and conflicting values that may be preventing an inquiry into alternative perspectives that could help to ease the problem. For example, while a psychotherapist may search a client's subconscious for the causes of a client's distress over a career decision that must be made, the philosophical counselor will help the client conduct a conceptual examination of the many issues surrounding such a decision.
It could be argued that this type of intellectual counselling neglects the emotions and feelings, or what psychologists call the affective domain. But philosophers know that feelings and emotions are not simply irrational events that a person must suffer. John Locke characterized the emotions, which he called the passions, as ideas in our minds that come from both our sensations and reflections. A number of eminent philosophers, such as Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Hobbes, Aquinas, and Sartre, have argued that an emotion does not simply erupt from the dark unconscious but that it is set in motion by a perception, a certain way of apprehending the world. Consequently, a negative feeling or an emotion about oneself, for example, can be changed by means of a critical examination of one's perception of oneself, and one's apprehension of the world and one's place in it.
But the philosophical counselor's aim is not simply to resolve a client's immediate problem and then send him on his way. The philosophical counselor also offers to educate the client in more effective ways of thinking so that if a problem arises again the client will be better able to deal with it on his own. The philosophical counselor is concerned with both the mitigation of problems and their prevention. She is therefore both a counselor and a teacher, helping the client to think clearly about the issue at hand while at the same time giving the client the tools that will improve his thinking in future. In this way the philosophical counselor ensures that individuals who have come to her for counselling will not become dependent on her to solve all similar problems in future.
Granted, cognitive approaches in psychotherapy such as R.E.B.T, logotherapy, and existential psychotherapy seem to already be doing some of what philosophical counselling claims to do. These psychotherapies are admittedly based on a philosophical type of inquiry into the client's reasoning. But these approaches were developed in the 1950's when psychologists were the only ones interested in the practice of counselling. Today there are a growing number of philosophers willing to work with individuals outside of the traditional academic setting -- philosophers very skilled at actively listening, at separating large masses of information into manageable pieces and putting them all back together again, and at spotting inconsistencies, contradictions, and other problems in a person's reasoning style.
A philosopher, in order to become a philosophical counselor, must have achieved at least a Master's degree in philosophy. The aspiring philosophical counselor will often focus his studies on practical or applied philosophy. Because of this he will be far better qualified to deal with specifically philosophical issues such as the meaning of life or questions of right and wrong than the therapist whose education has been predominantly in psychology. In other words, he will be experienced in discussing existential and ethical issues for which most psychotherapists have no training whatsoever.
Many philosophical counselors are hesitant to call philosophical counselling "therapy." This is because the philosophical counselor, unlike his psychotherapeutic counterpart, does not diagnose his clients according to some ready-made normative ideals about normalcy, mental health, self-understanding, or psychic well-being. Neither does he offer the sort of therapy that expects the client to passively receive treatment. But this does not mean that philosophical counselling is not therapeutic in its effect. Wittgenstein saw philosophy as having a practical use in "untying the knots in our thinking," or what he considered the treatment of "intellectual disease." The philosophical methods required for untying these troublesome knots he called "therapies." Therapy in the philosophical sense comes from the client's increased understanding, self-awareness, and feeling of well-being -- all products of a careful exploration, in tandem with a skilled philosopher, of herself and the world around her.
To undertake such an exploration some philosophical counselors prefer to use the reasoning of a single philosopher or philosophical system. But most take a more eclectic approach, knowing that specialization in one area of philosophy restricts a counselor's effectiveness when his client's problems or concerns shift over time. The key to philosophical counselling generally is its client-centered and open-ended nature, one which does not manipulate the client's thinking so as to bring him to accept some particular philosophy as the "Truth." The philosophical counselor's intention is to help his client reach any reasonable and morally permissible goal the client has set for herself.
Apart from being of great help to the average person, philosophical counselling can also be of immense value to professional psychotherapists. After all, philosophy is the foundation upon which all other fields of thought are based. Philosophy is not simply the transmission of a body of knowledge; it is the act of constantly improving one's understanding by means of thinking and discussion. Philosophers have an extraordinarily rich repertoire of theoretical perspectives at their disposals and therefore are especially adept at seeing the implications and assumptions behind the theories guiding all of the various approaches to psychological therapy. The philosophical counselor is well prepared to facilitate an inquiry into both the content and the process of reasoning that may have resulted in either professional or personal difficulties for the psychotherapist.
While the adage that the unexamined life is not worth living is somewhat of an exaggeration, it is certainly true that the examination of a life by means ofphilosophical counselling can lead to the living of a better life.
by PETER B. RAABE, Ph. D.

sexta-feira, 1 de julho de 2011

LUCIUS APULEIUS - The Golden Ass (O Asno de Ouro)

Best remembered for this humorous erotic romance, APULEIUS lived in the early part of the second century in Roman North Africa.

THE GOLDEN ASS (O ASNO DE OURO):                  Read it here.

“(…) The Golden Ass (Asinus Aureus) or Metamorphoses is the only Latin novel that has survived in its entirety. It is an imaginative, irreverent, and amusing work that relates the ludicrous adventures of one Lucius, who experiments with magic and is accidentally turned into an ass. In this guise he hears and sees many unusual things, until escaping from his predicament in a rather unexpected way. Within this frame story are found multiple digressions, the longest among them being the well-known tale of Cupid and Psyche.(…)”
Iles Johnson, Sarah, Mysteries, in Ancient Religions, The Belknap Press of Harvard University (2007)