Abstract

This paper completes an argument that the problem of moral distress offers philosophical counselors an opportunity to do work that is both socially useful and philosophically interesting in its own right. A previous Philosophical Practice article answered the question, What's Philosophical About Moral Distress? by conceptualizing it as a phenomenon that arises within a moral worldview (Matchett 2018). The present paper investigates ways in which a philosophical counseling response to moral distress might differ from the strategies deployed by the nursing profession to date. Though they are often quite subtle, the presence of some differences opens the possibility that philosophical counseling might be more effective than those strategies; in addition to helping individual nurses feel better, this could strengthen the nursing profession's efforts to mitigate nursing shortages and enhance quality of patient care. Though case studies are necessary to support these claims, there are reasons to think they are warranted.