Program

The Dutch Association for Philosophical Practice (VFP) is proud to organize the 10th International Conference on Philosophical Practice. In her closing meeting on the 9th ICPP in 2008 the philosophical practitioners, gathered in Carloforte (Italy), agreed with the proposal of the VFP that the theme of the 10th ICPP should be

‘Experience in Philosophical Practice’.

From the first days of philosophical practice in the ‘80ties, the dutch approach had and still has above all the ambition to be practical. Philosophical practice is supposed to create experiences, insight, and new possibilities of being or acting. True to this Dutch tradition, the 10th ICPP will be first of all a community of inquiry in philosophical practice. The aim of the conference is to deepen and improve our practice by sharing and discussing our experiences in philosophical practice. Our challenge is, not just to talk about philosophical practice, but to make the 10th ICPP an happening of philosophical practice itself in which we will learn from each other’s practices.

Learning implies reflection. But reflection without experience could easily lead to discussions without practical value for our philosophical practice. To avoid this, we ask you not only to talk about your practice and your experience, but to show us what you do in ‘your’ philosophical practice. We also ask you to create reflective experiences in which the minds of the conference could meet.

During the conference, practices will be shown and discussed in workshops and seminars centered around three main areas:
Experience in philosophical counseling (‘Beratung’): this refers to the most common way philosophical practice is understood, as counseling with individual clients or small groups working on major life questions.
Philosophical practice in the public, institutional and business spheres: this refers to the growing field of philosophizing in political and governmental institutions, business environments, and civil communities working on questions of justice, emancipation, quality of life etc.
Philosophical practice in education: this refers to philosophical practice in schools, educational institutions working on moral, vocational, professional and intellectual education.

In these three area’s we wish to address three kinds of questions:
Experiences in philosophical practices. What kind of experiences are brought into your practice by the clients? What happens in the interaction between the clients and you, the practitioner?
Experience oriented working. What kind of experience do you, as a practitioner, want to create in your practice? And how do you work to realize this?
Reflection on experiences in philosophical practices. How can ‘experience’, in the context of philosophical practice, be considered ‘philosophical’? How do you justify your practice for the outcome of your interventions?

During the conference, the Dutch association VFP aims to initiate international cooperation on securing high level education of philosophical practitioners and certification of courses in this field.

Read the time schedule for the preparations.

View the program schedule.