Philosophical Counselling
Welcome. My name is Matthew Bishop. I have qualifications in philosophy and counselling. I offer Philosophical Counselling. I see people by Zoom and phone in Australia and internationally.
Philosophical counselling helps you to see life more clearly. It guides you to develop a vision of life, and of your concerns, which is more true and good. That is, it helps you cultivate wisdom.
In cultivating wisdom, you reshape your emotions, desires, and actions accordingly. That is, you cultivate virtue: the qualities that make you and your life better.
Philosophical counselling helps you to see life more clearly. It guides you to develop a vision of life, and of your concerns, which is more true and good. That is, it helps you cultivate wisdom.
In cultivating wisdom, you reshape your emotions, desires, and actions accordingly. That is, you cultivate virtue: the qualities that make you and your life better.
By philosophy I mean classical philosophy. The tradition which began in ancient Greece, and which flows through Rome in Europe. That is Plato above all, as well as Socrates, Aristotle, Epictetus, Plotinus....
Classical philosophy, the tradition of Plato, is the cultivation of intuition, and of reason, and of the intellectual virtues, and of imagination, and of desire, in order to see more clearly what is good, and to be transformed by that. It is the pursuit of wisdom and virtue.
I was while teaching philosophy at The University of Melbourne that I decided to become a philosophical counsellor: to dedicate my life to helping people as a philosopher in the classical tradition. Psychological theory and practice have a vital place in classical philosophy, and so I decided to study counselling and psychotherapy, in the service of my philosophical counselling. As a result, I spent over a decade working as a mainstream psychotherapist, gaining skills in the humanistic, cognitive-behavioural, and psychodynamic therapies, and specialising in existential therapy. That forms a resource for my philosophical counselling. I am a philosopher who helps you philosophically, but in doing so, and in alignment with the classical philosophical tradition, I may draw deeply on psychotherapeutic reflection as well, to help you improve at the psychological level as well.
Classical philosophy, the tradition of Plato, is the cultivation of intuition, and of reason, and of the intellectual virtues, and of imagination, and of desire, in order to see more clearly what is good, and to be transformed by that. It is the pursuit of wisdom and virtue.
I was while teaching philosophy at The University of Melbourne that I decided to become a philosophical counsellor: to dedicate my life to helping people as a philosopher in the classical tradition. Psychological theory and practice have a vital place in classical philosophy, and so I decided to study counselling and psychotherapy, in the service of my philosophical counselling. As a result, I spent over a decade working as a mainstream psychotherapist, gaining skills in the humanistic, cognitive-behavioural, and psychodynamic therapies, and specialising in existential therapy. That forms a resource for my philosophical counselling. I am a philosopher who helps you philosophically, but in doing so, and in alignment with the classical philosophical tradition, I may draw deeply on psychotherapeutic reflection as well, to help you improve at the psychological level as well.
There are many reasons that people seek out my service. Some want an alternative to mainstream therapy. If you come, for example, with what might be called depression, anxiety, or a crisis of purpose, we will not treat it as a clinical condition, or even as mainly a psychological problem. We will investigate it as a meaningful response to your life and your vision of the world. Is it rooted in a misperception of the good? In a sorrow, or anger, at the gap between your deeper desires versus reality as you have experienced it? In a despair at perceived meaninglessness? We will use reason and contemplation to seek a truer vision. The answers will be both universal and uniquely yours.
My philosophical counselling resonates with those who sense that their distress or aspiration requires a transformative vision, a deeper wisdom. My clients often include:
You can read about me here, where I set out in greater detail the nature of my service and my professional background. See here to make a booking.
My philosophical counselling resonates with those who sense that their distress or aspiration requires a transformative vision, a deeper wisdom. My clients often include:
- Individuals seeking a more true and good vision of life by which to live.
- Those seeking to cultivate the personal qualities--or virtues--such as courage, discipline, compassion, creativity, and so on, to make life better.
- People who bring the same problems that one takes to mainstream counselling, but who seek to cultivate wisdom and virtue as their primary therapy.
- Atheists and secular individuals wishing to construct a rich, coherent, and meaningful worldview at that level.
- Spiritually-oriented seekers who recognise in Platonism a rational spirituality of unrivalled depth.
- Psychotherapists, psychologists, and other helping professionals who wish to deepen the meaning and purpose of their work, or who wish to enrich it philosophically.
- Anybody else who rightly senses that philosophical reflection and effort can help them.
You can read about me here, where I set out in greater detail the nature of my service and my professional background. See here to make a booking.
