COUNSELINGS INESCAPABLE MORAL VISIONS

In this article, philosophical hermeneutics is combined with interpret ive social science perspectives to generate a framework for considerin g the influence of cultural values and assumptions on counseling theor y and practice. The core of this framework is the claim that people ne cessarily live within moral visions that answer the questions: (a) wha t is a person? and (b) what should a person be or become? Culture prov ides answers to these questions not only through folk and indigenous p sychologies but also by shaping psychological and counseling theories. Moral visions are generally unacknowledged because of the fact-value dualism and the ideals of neutrality that pervade Western culture. Con sequently, moral visions, like individualism, operate as disguised ide ology in counseling theory and practice.