Philosophical counseling, also sometimes called philosophical practice, is a contemporary movement in practical philosophy. Developing since the 1980s, practitioners of philosophical counseling ordinarily have a doctorate or minimally a master’s degree in philosophy and offer their philosophical counseling or consultation services to clients who look for a philosophical understanding of their lives, social problems, or even mental problems. In the last case philosophical counseling might be in lieu of, or in conjunction with, traditional psychotherapy. The movement has often been said to be rooted in the Socratic tradition, which viewed philosophy as a search for the Good and the good life. A life without ethics was not worthwhile living for Socrates.