The Function of Scientific and Humanistic Ideologies in the Counseling Profession From the Perspective of Cognitive–Experiential Self‐Theory: A Response to Hansen

In this response, the author addresses Hansen's (2012) call for the counseling profession to substitute science with humanities as its primary ideology. The author uses Epstein's (1994) cognitive-experiential self-theory to show that an equal appreciation for science and humanities is more congruent with a holistic humanistic vision for counseling. ********** In Hansen's (2012) article titled, "Extending the Humanistic Vision: Toward a Humanities Foundation for the Counseling Profession," he suggests that a mixture of relational intuition and scientific accountability ultimately leads to attenuation of the visionary potential of both ideologies. According to Hansen, proponents for a scientific ideology of counseling have advocated for the counseling profession to be grounded in pure science during the past 2 decades without incorporating insights from the humanities. Hansen, however, contends that the time has come for those who advocate a humanities ideology for the counseling profession to develop a counterproposal based on the vision of the founding humanists. In his attempt to define the humanities vision for the counseling profession, Hansen identifies and discusses two key scientific ideologies and their humanities counterparts: (a) human complexity versus simplicity and (b) multiplicity of perspectives versus singular truth. Hansen argues that the counseling profession should be founded on humanities ideology because it promotes human complexity as opposed to scientific ideology, which reduces phenomena to its simplest forms. Hansen also advocates for counselors to adopt a humanities mind-set, which incorporates multiple perspectives, and cautions against embracing a scientific mind-set because the goal of science is to seek singular truth. In this response, I take the position, similar to Nystul (1999), that "the counselor, like an artist, can sensitively reach into the world of the client, yet on some level maintain a sense of professional and scientific objectivity" (p. 2). Specifically, I believe counseling is a process in which the subjective (humanistic) and objective (scientific) dimensions have to be taken into consideration while attempting to balance both (Nystul, 1999). Therefore, I disagree with Hansen's (2012) assertion that we counselors need to replace a scientific ideology, which is currently the primary epistemology within the counseling profession, with an ideology based predominantly on the humanities. By proposing that the counseling profession should be grounded mainly in the humanities rather than science, Hansen (2012) appears to perpetuate the view that counseling is beyond science, that it is an art that does not need to equally address "concrete and measurable issues" (van Deurzen-Smith, 1990, p. 10). As suggested by Williams and Irving (1999), the rejection of science by counselors who believe that working from a phenomenological perspective has nothing to do with science is to "throw the baby out with the bath water" (p. 368). Therefore, I believe that the foundation of counseling should instead be guided by both the scientific and humanities ideologies to circumvent the limitations and reap the strengths of both science and humanities. Furthermore, at a time when mainstream psychology's commitment to the natural science paradigm is bordering on "scientism" (Elkins, 2009, p. 284), humanistic psychology has to reinvigorate and extend its vision, not by polarizing its ideology with that of science, as Hansen (2012) appears to suggest, but by taking a more cooperative stance with science (Wong, 2010). Throughout history, from the ancient Greeks to the European Renaissance, humanistic philosophy has transformed individuals, groups, even cultures to take action in the world (Elkins, 2009). I believe that humanistic psychology, compared with the other theoretical orientations in psychology, is ideally suited within the counseling profession to bring together the seemingly irreconcilable ideologies of science and humanities. …