In my opinion, to answer the question “what’s philosophical in philosophical counselling?” we first need to explain what is it, which we call philosophy. The answer has to be a double one: philosophy is both an attitude and a content.

From the attitude point of view, philosophy is a kind of speech:

• requiring a rational mode (instead of an emotional or suggestive mode);
• supposing a detachment, a stepping back from the object of the enquiry, a suspension of any involvement;
• “truth oriented”: meaning that truth is one of its issues, with regard to the ethic dimension of sincerity, as well as the logic dimension of validity;
• it always has a panoramic perspective; which means it concerns us even when it says I. The single problem is always part of a shared speech;
• it always comes out as a questioning about facts, relationships, choices, etc.

From the content point of view, philosophy is a whole tradition, which is to say, a fully accessible archive of figures, reflections, hypothesis, experiences, all shaping an endless parallel with human existence.

And, while detecting these elements in a session of philosophical counselling is not always easy, verifying their absence is not difficult.