You could read Plato鈥檚 Apology as Socrates鈥檚 attempt to refute charges brought against him, one of which was corrupting the youth. It鈥檚 not likely, he argued, that a single man could corrupt a bunch of adolescents while all the rest of society improves them. On the contrary, one individual (or perhaps at most a select few) has the power to better a person (or a horse, in his example) while the masses are more likely to corrupt them. On Socrates鈥檚 telling, one bad apple cannot rotten the bunch, but a basketful of rotting apples will certainly spoil a good one.
So, if you want to improve yourself鈥攂e happier, for example鈥攜ou shouldn鈥檛 consult society鈥檚 ideas of a good life, as portrayed in magazines, pillows, and posters. Instead, you should find the equivalent of a horse trainer. In the case of mental health challenges鈥攁nxiety, depression, grief鈥攖his usually translates into finding a therapist or psychiatrist, or perhaps even a self-help author. Anyone trained in the art of feeling better would work.
Marc Brackett and Susan David are two of the most popular happiness researchers of 2023, in part because they represent Yale and Harvard, respectively, and in part because they tell us to value all of our emotions, negative ones included. Both scholars write in an accessible style, and both give us permission to feel and even express our negative emotions. They offer us good reasons to revalue negativity, namely, that it鈥檚 part of our reality. They encourage us to change our perspective, to become convinced that feeling bad is not shameful. Their message is reassuring, and reading them is a bit like home-therapy. Neither is a practicing therapist, but both aim to help us feel better about feeling bad.
Long before academic and disciplinary boundaries were built, ancient philosophers also tried their hand at being therapists. Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism, sold ataraxia鈥攆reedom from worry鈥攊n the agora before preaching on the painted porch. Likewise, Seneca鈥檚 letters to Lucilius are evidence that at least one philosopher thought philosophy was therapeutic. Today, when I ask my college students which philosopher made the greatest impression on them, they often choose Seneca. His adage 鈥渃hange your attitude, not your surroundings鈥� is a favorite in my Introduction to Philosophy class.
Socrates, Zeno, and Seneca were trainers of humans, not horses, using wisdom as a tool to help people suffer less. So, although most philosophers in the US don鈥檛 consider themselves any kind of therapist (and may even object to the self-help type of philosophy becoming popular today), some of us believe that philosophy can help people feel better.
If philosophy has always been therapeutic, it has also always been more than therapeutic. In addition to reading the Apology as a refutation of bogus charges brought against Socrates, you could also read it as a good, old-fashioned, social critique. With 501 jurors, Socrates鈥� trial amounted to making him an orator鈥攁 public man speaking to all of Athens鈥攁nd he did not squander the opportunity to chastise them:
I was attached to this city by the god鈥攖hough it seems a ridiculous thing to say鈥攁s upon a great and noble horse which was somewhat sluggish because of its size and needed to be stirred up by a kind of gadfly. It is to fulfill some such function that I believe the god has placed me in the city. I never cease to rouse each and every one of you, to persuade and reproach you all day long and everywhere I find myself in your company.
At this point in the dialogue, Socrates had just finished criticizing his fellow Athenians for caring too much about their wealth, reputation, and rank鈥攖hings he said have little importance鈥攁nd for caring far too little about what matters most: virtue, wisdom, and 鈥渢he best possible state of your soul.鈥� Socrates was panning out, far enough to launch a critique against the values of ancient Athens. Few people are willing to take on society at that scale, to see and say something about how the masses are doing it wrong. And Socrates did all of this in the name of philosophy. By leaving us the image of the gadfly, Socrates was giving philosophers permission鈥攐r perhaps even a directive鈥攖o be social critics.
Karl Marx famously complained that philosophers merely interpreted the world. 鈥淭he point, however, is to change it.鈥� To change a world, a philosopher would first need to convince people that their current world is causing unnecessary suffering. If this can be accomplished鈥攖hat鈥檚 a big if鈥攖hen a plan of action would follow. Once a good argument has been made for why the present world is not serving us very well, we could begin to think collectively about how to refashion it. This move, I鈥檝e come to realize, requires a faith in humanity greater than many philosophers have. It requires believing that we can change more than just ourselves.
As a discipline, philosophy can aim higher than helping individuals suffer less. Philosophy can show us why and how so many of us suffer (and in similar ways), and it can help us see that entire worlds, not just individuals, can be improved. Philosophy can be self-help and social critique.
Mariana Alessandri is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, the nation鈥檚 first bilingual university. In addition, she and her partner are the founders of RGV PUEDE, a nonprofit whose mission is to promote dual language education in South Texas public schools. They live on the border with their two tesoros. Find out more at marianaalessandri.com.