PRACTICAL AND ACADEMIC PHILOSOPHY. CONFRONTATION OR CON-FRONTATION?

Abstract

The confrontation between academic philosophy and practical / applied philosophy, despite having eased in recent years, is still a reality in many countries. In the first part of the article, I reflect on the reasons for this confrontation, based on Gerd Achenbach’s theses sustained in the 80s of last century. This part of the paper ends with a reflection on the possible purposes of practical philosophy as philosophical counseling. The second part of my paper deepens the reflection on the purposes of philosophical counseling, taking in account a specific point of view – the confrontation between the power of a ‘system’ and the power of the spontaneous and free individual – and his treatment in authors like Heidegger, Barthes, Derrida, Adorno, Ricoeur, Rorty and Habermas. This leads to the question of the inclusion of the socio-political perspective within the horizon of philosophical counseling.