Rationality, Emotion, and Belief Revision: Waller's Move Beyond CBT & REBT

Abstract:     
Sarah Waller proposes that cognitive therapists and philosophical counselors ought to consider the feelings of the client of paramount importance in belief system change rather than the rationality of the belief system. I offer an alternative strategy of counseling that reinstates the place of rational belief revision while still respecting the importance of emotions. Waller claims that, because of the problem of under-determination, the counseling goal of rational belief revision can be trumped by the goal of improved client affect. I suggest that, if we consider a different ontology for the domain of counseling - one whose objects are dialogues (the goal of counseling becomes greater information of dialogues), we can accommodate a place for emotions in rational belief revision. I then note some limitations of the new proposal and the possibility of incommensurability in the comparison of our different views.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 21

Keywords: incommensurabiity, rationality, emotion, belief revision, under-determination, philosophical counseling, philosophy of sience, psychology, methodology

JEL Classification: B3, B30, B31, C11, C12, C44, C45, C70, L33, D70

Accepted Paper Series