Dialogues

by Carl R. Rogers

Offers a brief profile of Rogers, and shares his discussions with theologians and psychologists issues in psychotherapy

Genres: Psychology, Philosophy, Counselling, Spirituality

255 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1989

About the author

"Experience is, for me, the highest authority. The touchstone of validity is my own experience. No other person's ideas, and none of my own ideas, are as authoritative as my experience. It is to experience that I must return again and again, to discover a closer approximation to truth as it is in the process of becoming in me." -Carl Rogers, On Becoming a Person

DEVELOPED THEORIES - THERAPIES
Person-Centered; Humanistic; Client-Centered; Student-Centered

TIMELINE
1902 - Carl Rogers was born in Oak Park, Illinois.
1919 - Enrolled at University of Wisconsin.
1924 - Graduated from University of Wisconsin and enrolled at Union Theological Seminary.
1926 - Transferred to Columbia.
1931- Earned Ph.D. from Columbia.
1940 - Began teaching at University of Ohio.
1946 - Elected president of American Psychological Association (APA).
1951 - Published Client-centered Therapy.
1961 - Published On Becoming A Person.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great collection of conversations between Rogers and some of the great thinkers, including Buber, Rollo May, Bateman, and Tillich. The best conversation, which I almost skipped, was the conversation between Rogers and Skinner. I thought Skinner would be kind of an idiot, but he comes across as very sincere, pragmatic scientist that seems to understand that we've got to start somewhere. Rogers reveals himself to be not a very good listener, which I noticed first in this essay and then again (painfully so) in the dialogue between himself and May.

The shitty thing about Rogers is that he has a little bit of a pollyanna stance, and in disagreements he (willfully??) misinterprets or distorts the positions of his opponents so that they seem like jerks and he gets to be captain sunshine. This obviously worked for him and probably it works well when he's by himself on stage, but in the context of the dialogues, it shows how narrow his viewpoint is-- it reveals that he is a salesman more than a philosopher and in that regard he falls short of the speakers in the book.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light 4. About 75% of this book was incredible, but there were a few sections I couldn't get into. I enjoyed how you begin to see Carl's demeanor over all of the interviews. It's a fun mix of encouragement while also being feisty. I think it was great that most of these entries were with people that he mostly agrees with, but where they do differ, the gap is large. It provides a great gamut of viewpoints and ideas. Favorite chapter was the BF Skinner section. Worth it for that chapter alone.

[Táňa Sedláková · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dialógy. Rogersa s Buberom, Tillichom, Polanyiom a Batesnom.
O rovnocennom vzťahovaní sa k druhému, spiritualite a jej prežívaní, pozitivisticky-vedeckom poznávaní a jeho rezervách, vzdelávaní a učení. Rozhovor so Skinnerom prenudný, inak vynikajúci spôsob spoznať Rogersove myšlienky v konfrontácií.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the writing style here is much more approachable than in his other works. the book begins with a summary of his style of therapy , which in its brevity , is much easier to understand. the dialogues themselves are in a fairly colloquial language and much easier to understand than a professional book in which a psychologist seems to feel the need to present themselves in a thorough and academic way.