The purpose of this study was to define Philosophical Counselling (PC) or, more specifically, PC as practised in South Africa. This was done through allowing South African philosophical counsellors to tell their stories about PC. The epistemological framework was that of social constructionism. The study involved a series of in-depth interviews with three South African philosophical counsellors. The major themes that emerged from the participants’ stories seemed to centre around: the existential need for the other; the conceptual need for the other; engaging with the other methodically; and caring for the other. While their stories largely resonate with current and overwhelmingly European and North American conceptions of PC, they also seem to provide a uniquely South African impetus to revise these conceptions. Moreover, the findings of this study may facilitate a dialogue between philosophical counsellors and their colleagues in related professions, especially psychotherapists. / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

The purpose of this study was to define Philosophical Counselling (PC) or, more specifically, PC as practised in South Africa. This was done through allowing South African philosophical counsellors to tell their stories about PC. The epistemological framework was that of social constructionism. The study involved a series of in-depth interviews with three South African philosophical counsellors. The major themes that emerged from the participants’ stories seemed to centre around: the existential need for the other; the conceptual need for the other; engaging with the other methodically; and caring for the other. While their stories largely resonate with current and overwhelmingly European and North American conceptions of PC, they also seem to provide a uniquely South African impetus to revise these conceptions. Moreover, the findings of this study may facilitate a dialogue between philosophical counsellors and their colleagues in related professions, especially psychotherapists. / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Ce travail de thèse part d’un intérêt pour les démarches éducatives mettant au centre du processus d’apprentissage l’attitude interrogative et exploratrice de l’enfant. C’est le cas des pratiques philosophiques réalisées en contexte scolaire, en école primaire et au collège, dont nous analysons 14 séances dans notre thèse. Les recherches existantes s’attachent généralement à décrire ces pratiques sous l’angle des bénéfices dans le développement des compétences langagières, cognitives et sociales de l’enfant. Cependant, bien que le questionnement soit à l’origine de tout processus résolutoire et de confrontation d’idées, la question de son émergence n'a jamais été traitée frontalement jusqu’alors.Comment le questionnement émerge, se construit et se modifie dans l’interaction lors des discussions philosophiques ? Afin de répondre à cette problématique, notre thèse propose une démarche descriptive et interprétative qui se situe à trois niveaux. Il s’agit d’abord d’analyser les verbalisations d’actes de question réalisées par les acteurs de la discussion dans leur énonciation. Par la suite, l’analyse s’intéresse à l’interprétation des actes en lien avec un questionnement sous l’angle des effets perlocutoires produits dans le contexte interactionnel et dialogique. Enfin, le troisième niveau d’analyse propose une perspective globale sur l’action collective du questionnement dans les discussions analysées.Du point de vue théorique, ce travail offre un modèle d’analyse pragmatique du questionnement qui permet de mettre à jour une articulation entre pensée, langage et dialogue. Le corpus analysé porte sur des classes d’âge différentes : primaire et collège, ce qui ouvre également sur une perspective développementale permettant de s’interroger sur l’évolution de l’étonnement et le développement de la réflexion chez l’enfant. Il a également des visées pédagogiques puisque nous avons identifié, au long de l’analyse, les conditions favorables à un développement dialogique du questionnement. / This thesis is inspired by an interest in educational approaches that focus on children’s exploratory and questioning attitudes in learning processes. In order to study such attitudes, we have analyzed fourteen discussions recorded during philosophical practices carried out in primary and middle school. Existing research generally attempts to describe these practices in terms of the benefits they provide for children’s development of linguistic, cognitive and social skills. Yet, even if questioning is the foundation of all problem solving processes and of the confrontation of ideas, the emergence of learners’ questioning for initiating conceptual and problematical reflection has not yet been studied.How does questioning become visible, how is it elaborated and how does interaction with others change it, during philosophical discussions? To answer this, we provide a descriptive and interpretative analysis at three levels. First we analyze verbalizations of question acts performed by the actors taking part in discussion. Secondly we focus on perlocutory effects produced by question acts in an interactional and dialogical context. Finally we put the collective act of questioning into a global perspective.From a theoretical viewpoint, this thesis proposes a pragmatic analysis model based on a new articulation between thought, language and dialogue. The corpus focuses on different age groups and perspectives include constructing a developmental view about the evolution of children’s astonishment and of their reflection. Our aims are also pedagogical because our analysis has allowed us to identify conditions that promote the development of dialogical questioning.