Do philosopher counselors take the same approach (same, that is, as with ethical issues) to whatever spiritual/religious considerations might arise during issue exploration?
Exactly the same approach. Should the client choose to pursue the spiritual/religious implications of the issue, the philosophical counselor will be a supportive fellow explorer, within the bounds, of course, of the counselor’s professional competence. Especially helpful can be philosophers who have studied Natural Theology, the branch of Philosophy that explores questions about the Supreme Being as far as our unassisted natural reason (unassisted, that is, by Sacred Scripture and Tradition) can take such crucial questions. Such philosophical counselors know “how to think about God,” to quote the title of an influential book by Dr. Mortimer Adler, one of my favorite philosophers. These counselors can be helpful dialogue partners for clients struggling with spiritual/religious perplexities.
