8th International Conference on Philosophical Counseling & Practice
The National Philosophical Counseling Association will be holding a virtual conference via Zoom on a variety of topics relevant to philosophical practice from February 20th to 22nd 2026.
The schedule for the conference is as follows:-
Download the schedule from here!
8th International Conference on Philosophical Counseling & Practice
Live ZOOM Conference
February 20-22, 2026 (US Eastern Standard Time)
Speaker Schedule:
FRIDAY, FEB. 20, 2026
8:55 am Welcoming Remarks
Samuel Zinaich, Jr., Associate Executive Director, NPCA
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9:00-10:30 am
Chair: Samuel Zinaich
Speaker: ANCA TIUREAN “The I above the I: Differentiating Role, Method and Style in the
Multidisciplinary Practice of Philosophical Counselling”
Speaker: Marko Orlovic, “Virtue Theory”
10:30 am-12:00 pm
Chair: Elliot D. Cohen
Speaker: Samuel Zinaich, “Aleksandar Fatic on Modal Worlds and Modal Therapy: A Partial
Critique.”
Speaker: Aarohi Mhatre, “Refutation as a Game: Adapting components of Logic-Based Therapy
in Philosophy for Children lesson plans.”
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12:00-12:30 pm Lunch break
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12:30-1:30 pm Presidential Address
Chair: Samuel Zinaich, Jr.
Speaker: Elliot D. Cohen, Founder and Executive Director of the NPCA, “Logic-Based Therapy
for the Developmentally Disabled: Creating and Applying Philosophical Antidotes with a Vulnerable Population in a Group Setting”
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1:30-3:00 pm
Chair: Erica Nichols
Speaker: Shirley Peng, “Ethical Boundaries and Power Dynamics in Philosophical Counseling
Training”
Speaker: Christian Skoorsmith, “Parts in Process: What Whitehead (Process-Relational
Philosophy) and ‘Parts Work’ Tell Us About Human Consciousness and Possibilities for Creative Transformation”
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3:00-4:30 pm
Chair: Erica Nichols
Speaker: Miklos Kis, “Climbing the Mountain – Derek Parfit”
Speaker: Kathyrn E. Cook, “Perennial Philosophy in the Age of AI”
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4:30-6:00 pm
Chair: Samuel Zinaich
Speaker: Ovidiu Badea, “No Quantifier Shift in Aristotle’s Ethics: Eudaimonia as a Formal
Constraint on Practical Explanation—and a Logic-Guided Protocol for Philosophical Counseling”
Speaker: Ross Channing Reed, “Existential Anxiety, Structural Anxiety, and Pathological
Anxiety (“Anxiety Disorders”): A Philosophical and Clinical Analysis”
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6:00-6:45 pm
Chair: Samuel Zinaich
Speaker: Luka Janes, “Addiction Treatment through Existential-phenomenological Approach
Based on the LBT Pillars.”
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SATURDAY, FEB. 21, 2026
9:00-10:30 am
Chair: Samuel Zinaich
Speaker: Chaitanya Deshpande and Vaishnavi Pednekar, “The limits of universal moral
imperatives in philosophical counselling”
Speaker: Krisztina Fitu (Baricz), “The Aesthetic Bridge to Rational Agency: Aesthetic and
Narrative Stimuli in Logic-Based Philosophical Counseling with Adolescents”
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10:30 am-12:00 pm
Chair: Samuel Zinaich
Speaker: Pia Houni, “How can philosophical counseling support a person’s self-cultivation?”
Speaker: Antonio Fadda, “Reversing the Gerasimov Doctrine”: an unorthodox proposal from
escalation to conflict resolution, applied to Philosophical Practice”
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12:00-12:30 pm Lunch
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12:30-1:30 pm
Panel: In honor of the late Guy du Plessis
Chair: Elliot D. Cohen
Speakers: John Monfredo, Luka Jane, Aleksandar Prica, Dmitri Frolov, Mladin Ionut
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1:30-3:00 pm
Chair: Erica Nichols
Speaker: Andrei Simionescu-Panait and Veronica Batca, “What is canstipation?”
Speaker: David Sumiacher, “Freedom, Equality, and Fraternity: Principles for thinking about a
new type of education”
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3:00-4:30 pm
Chair: Erica Nichols
Speaker: Maria Tillmanns, “Introducing Pixie, The Philosopher’s Cat”
Speaker: Martha Lang, “Pragmatic Pluralism in Ethics Consultations for Philosophical
Counseling and Consulting”
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4:30-5:30 PM
Keynote Speaker
Chair: Elliot D. Cohen
Speaker: Mustafa Çevik, “Ethics Consultation and the Future of Judgment: Why Philosophical
Competence Is Becoming Indispensable?”
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5:30 pm-7:00 pm
Chair: Samuel Zinaich
Speaker: Jacek Debiec, “On Being Collapse Aware: An Examination of Collapse Awareness in
Counselling and Therapy Practice”
Speaker: Dmitry Frolov “The Use of Virtues in Therapeutic Approaches and in Logic-Based
Therapy”
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SUNDAY, Feb. 22, 2026
9:00-10:30 am
Chair: Samuel Zinaich
Speaker: Priya M Vaidya and Smita Shukla, “PHILOSOPHICAL COUNSELLING &
PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT (WITH REFERENCE TO SWAMI VIVEKANANDA): RELEVANCE TO YOUNG MANAGERS”
Speakers: Ganesh Bharate, “Towards gauging and unpacking belief structures in philosophical
counselling.”
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10:30-12:00 am
Chair: Samuel Zinaich
Speaker: Carmen Zavala, “Philosophical practitioners in the realm of social and political
activism”
Speaker: Ioana Nicolescu, “Ethical Aspects at the Boundary Between Philosophical
Counselling and Psychotherapy: Possible Directions Drawing on the Ethics of Emmanuel Levinas”
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12:00-12:30 pm Lunch break
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12:30-2:00 pm
Chair: Samuel Zinaich
Speaker: Walter Menezes & Jonathan Sequeira, “Philosophers as Peacemakers: Can
Philosophical Practice help one achieve Internal Organizational Well-being?”
Speaker: Ira Gokhale, “Introducing Logic-Based Therapy in Curriculum: An overview”
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2:00-3:30 pm
Chair: Elliot D. Cohen
Speaker: Ran Lahav, “PHILOSOPHICAL COUNSELING AS A PHILOSOPHICAL
DIALOGUE WITH LIFE”
Speaker: Karin Fechner, “PSYCHOTHERAPY FOR PHILOSOPHICAL COUNSELORS”
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3:30-5:00 pm
Chair: Erica Nichols
Speaker: Aleksandar Prica, “Application of Logic Based Therapy (LBT) in the Treatment of
Addiction Disorders from the Perspective of Neuropsychoanalysis”
Speaker: Filip Martin Svibovec, “Psycho-synthesis as the nature of the philosophical
counseling”
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5:00-5:45 pm
Chair: Erica Nichols
Speaker: John Monfredo, “Buber, LBT, and Addiction Counseling”
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5:45-6:30 PM
Closing Remarks
Speaker: Elliot D. Cohen
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The Registration fee details for The Conference
Registration Fee
Conference Speakers: $35.00 + $1.76 PayPal fee.
Non-Speaker Partakers: $35.00 + $1.76 PayPal fee.
Special Conference Fee
Conference Speakers/Non-Speaker Partakers + NPCA Membership (normally $35.00): $ 60.00 + $2.22 PayPal Fee
NPCA Membership Fee Only- $35.00 + $1.76 PayPal Fee
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Register for the Conference Here
Once you submit your conference registration payment via PayPal, you will receive a separate e-mail with your conference log-in information.
Conference Registration Only
$30 and estimated PayPal fee of $1.36
Conference Registration & NPCA Membership
$60 and estimated PayPal fee of $2.22
Questions?
If you have questions, please contact Samuel Zinaich, Jr., Ph.D. at zinaich@pnw.edu
Information about previous conferences can be accessed here.