ABSTRACT
Peter Schmid has been described as ‘the philosopher of the person-centred approach’. While he is not alone in seeking to understand the philosophical traditions behind person-centred therapy and the implications these have for practice, it is true that his work on the anthropological and epistemological foundations of it have made a significant impact. Of particular concern to Schmid, drawing on the work of the philosophers Emmanuel Levinas, Martin Buber and many others, are the concept of human beings as essentially relational, the process of encounter and the dialogical nature of person-centred therapy.
