哲學諮商分別從古希臘哲學的愛智慧，以及十九、二十世紀的尼采與維根斯坦的哲學治療那兒繼承了一些有助於開展哲學諮商的特質。對於什麼是哲學諮商，除了從哲學的歷史溯源去尋找理論的依據之外，尚可以透過諮商現場的檢視，探究哲學諮商可以發用的對象和範疇、由此分析哲學諮商的適用性以及相關的特質。通常人們對於理解什麼是哲學諮商有困惑或困難時，與其說是理論的抽象與模糊，不如說是因為哲學諮商與心理諮商的實務相混淆所導致的困擾。許多人初次聽聞「哲學諮商」時，總是將它與「心理諮商」相連結，無論聽聞者本身是否熟悉心理諮商，是否曾經學過心理諮商或者有被諮商的經驗。甚至那些哲學諮商學習者，也總是用他們所以為的心理諮商來理解哲學諮商，甚至是用心理諮商來評價哲學諮商。雖然學習新事物時總不免要藉已知的、相關的、類似的事物來幫助理解；不過，要真正認識該新事物本身，就必須仔細謹慎的觀察二者之間的相異處，才能夠還原新事物的本來樣貌。這樣的道理也適用於對哲學諮商的認識。
有些哲學諮商學者透過批判類似物的方式，來理解哲學諮商。這個方式容易引發從事哲學諮商與其他諮商實務者的對立。相對於此，筆者擬從心理諮商與哲學諮商所共同面對的諮商現場為起點，透過諮商現場中個案處境的觀察，從雷同之處找到差異性，進而分析差異性使我們更能夠看到彼此。dt?dt

Philosophical counseling has drawn some attributes conducive to the development of philosophical counseling from the love of wisdom in ancient Greek philosophy as well as the 19 and 20 century philosophical therapy by Nietzsche and Wittgenstein. To grasp the nature of philosophical counseling, in addition to searching for theoretical grounds in the history of philosophy, we can also investigate the objects and categories that philosophical counseling can be applied to through examining the site of counseling and whereupon analyze the applicability and other relevant features of philosophical counseling. thth People’s confusion about the nature of philosophical counseling is usually a result of confusion between philosophical counseling and psychological counseling rather than a consequence of theoretical abstraction and blur. Many of those who hear about philosophical counseling for the first time usually relate it to “psychological counseling,” no matter if they know psychological counseling well or if they studied “psychological counseling” or were counseled before. Even the students of philosophical counseling more than often comprehend philosophical counseling in terms of their own ideas about psychological counseling and even evaluate philosophical counseling in the light of psychological counseling. Though one always learns new knowledge by means of the known, related or similar matters, to really understand the new knowledge itself, one has to examine carefully the differences in between. Only then, we can see the new knowledge as it really is. Such a principle can also be applied to the comprehension of philosophical counseling.Some scholars of philosophical counseling understand it through criticizing similar disciplines, which tends to pit the practitioners of philosophical counseling against other counselors. In contrast, the writer will begin with what psychological counseling and philosophical counseling have in common, that is, the site of counseling. Observing the situation of the client at the site of counseling, we try to look for differences among similarities and, furthermore, analyze these differences. In this way, we can understand one another even more.