Clinical Philosophy for the Recovery of Common Sense

It's Monday. Let's reset: I am wading through this cumbersome, 500 page book on common sense so you don't have to. 

You're welcome.

On the other hand, for readers already imbued with common sense--

"It is not the sensible and clearheaded who need rationality, but the tenured, the progressive, the ideologue. I have not come to call the reasonable, but the loony, the unhinged, the brainsick."

That's one way of putting it. Problem is, those lacking in common sense are not going to be receptive to common sense by virtue of not having any. Where is the point of entry for such benighted souls living in a state of epistemological and ontological closure?

I remember a movement in the 1990s -- I don't know what became of it -- of "clinical philosophy," in which the person would consult the philosophical therapist in order to uproot deformed worldviews and eradicate intellectual mind parasites. What do you know about this, Gemini?

That sounds very much like the "Philosophical Counseling" or "Philosophical Practice" movement, which did see a modern revival and growth, particularly starting in Europe in the 1980s and expanding in the 1990s. It is often referred to as Philosophical Counseling, Philosophical Practice, or sometimes Clinical Philosophy (as you recalled).

Hmm. I think I would have been much better suited for this type of thing than I ever was for clinical psychology. I never felt comfortable treating people for their trivial neurotic conflicts when there were so many bigger -- which is to say, cosmic -- fish to fry. I mean, the field of clinical psychology itself has become insane, and only serves to aggravate what clinical philosophy sets out to cure.

Don't be so hyperbolic.

Oh? Nicholas Wade touches on this in his The Origin of Politics. It's rather shocking, and he essentially relates it to what I would call the toxic feminism that has passive-aggressively highjacked the field. Look at all the ideological buzzwords:

Ultrafeminist ideology is not just ideological word-spinning but has achieved practical effects. Alongside critical theory's substantial inroads into the medical profession, ultrafeminism has captured the American Psychological Association, as evidenced by its 2019 guidelines for working with men and boys. The first guideline sets the stage: "Psychologists strive to recognize that masculinities are constructed based on social, cultural and contextual norms." Evolution and genetics, in other words, have nothing to do with shaping men's behavior -- it's all cultural.

The guidleines proceed to discuss masculinity as an unfortunate social disease. "Growing up in a patriarchal society may also contribute to important public health concerns such as gender-based violence," the guidelines aver, a notch short of saying society raises men to be killers. And the more masculine men are, the more likely they are to hate women, in the APA's considered view.... "Indeed, awareness of privilege and the harmful impacts of beliefs and behaviors that maintain patriarchal power have been shown to reduce sexist attitudes in men... and have been linked to participation in social justice activities," the APA assures its readers.

The APA's guidelines are practical advice for psychotherapists, instructing them essentially to tell men and boys that they are demonic reprobates.

Pardon the French, but Physician fuck thyself.

Or better yet, how about acquiring a modicum of good old masculine common sense? Not so suggest that women don't have it, but a feminist without a man is like an intellectual squish without a bicameral brain.

In short, the cure for ultrafeminism is common sense, for which reason ideological femotherapists of both sexes are desperately in need of a sober clinical philosopher to repair their deranged, feminized brains:

The Goal: the primary aim is to help clients address personal and existential issues -- such as struggles with meaning, values, ethical dilemmas, life changes, and core beliefs -- using the tools and insights of philosophy. 

How it Works: the philosophical counselor engages the client in dialogue, often employing techniques like Socratic questioning and dialectical inquiry to promote critical thinking, conceptual analysis to clarify important terms and concepts (like happiness, justice, or success), and exploration of philosophical theories to provide frameworks for understanding their issues. 

Distinction from Psychotherapy: a core tenet of the movement is that it deals with philosophical problems or the "difficulties of the human condition," rather than mental illness or psychological disorders that require clinical diagnosis and treatment. It often positions itself as an alternative or a complement to traditional psychological counseling or psychotherapy, especially for those who want to avoid the "medicalization" of life's problems.

However, philosophy itself, of course, must be purged of its uncommon nonsense -- e.g., postmodern critical theory -- and restored to its role as the upholder of common sense. In other words, you can't treat a toxic ultrafeminist with more feminism, nor a BLM activist with more critical race theory. There is no Marxian cure for Marxist envy and resentment.  

Such individuals are those most desperately in need of a modicum of common sense, which begins with recognition of the Real World common to all, not one world for one race or gender, and another world for others. Common sense functions

as mankind's common basis of knowledge, and fundamental criterion of truth, the absolutely necessary condition for the communication of knowledge between both individuals and cultures, and thus enabling consensus.

In short, if we are to have consensus, it must be around reality: reality is the final arbiter, not our ideas about reality. 

I can hear the cries now: Fascist! Authoritarian! Intellectual bully! 

Well, if you want to look at it that way, nature is a bit of a bully: it doesn't consult me about the rigid workings of gravity, biology, or chemistry. Some things are given, and it is only for us to adapt to them, not vice versa. We must accommodate ourselves to reality, not assimilate reality into our pre-existing thoughts and ideologies.

The most fundamental of the contents of universal experience in logical order is the perception of a world of things that are limited, ordered, interconnected and in continuous change.

There's a whole world out there just waiting to be discovered, if only you remove your ideological blinders:

Man's capacity to know is accordingly his power to transcend his own identity in order to possess the form of another reality which implies he must be the other reality.

"Man's capacity? Just like a privileged white male to say that!"

Word count?

1048.

Okay, we're done this morning. More philosophical therapy tomorrow.