Dr. Pierre Grimes
Pierre Grimes has developed, to perhaps the highest level, use of the Socratic dialectic for
understanding the types of problems we face when we struggle to attain excellence in our
lives. This purely rational method of pursuing questions uncovers false beliefs, traces them
to their origins, and by helping us understand their roots and the influence on our lives,
deflates their influence.
Pierre calls this Philosophical Midwifery, a term that comes from Plato’s dialogue
Theaetetus, where Socrates refers to his art as midwifery because he assists in the delivery
of men who are pregnant with either true ideas or false beliefs. Socrates calls his midwifery
an art because it is the application of a knowledge that benefits the subject, which is in this
case, the Self. This idea of art is explored in Plato’s Ion and in Book One of his Republic.
For Pierre, the exploration of the dialectic as a mode of psychotherapy began during his
years of counseling alcoholics at a rehabilitation center. As a result of his explorations
during this time, he authored two articles, “Alcibiades” and “Vinodorus,” published in 1961
and 1964, both written as Socratic dialogues presenting this process as a mode of
psychotherapy.
The Noetic Society was founded in 1976 for the study of dialogue and the exploration of
dialectic, and Pierre began demonstrating and teaching Philosophical Midwifery. In 1988,
Pierre created “To Artemis: The Challenge to Know Thyself”, a computer program designed
to guide users through four hundred structured questions that were modeled as a dialogue
for users to record their answers as they explored their own problems. Philosophical
Midwifery: A New Paradigm for Understanding Human Problems, with a Validation Study by
Regina Uliana, PhD, was published in 1998.
Pierre has been a student of Eastern thought for many years. He received his PhD in
comparative philosophy from the American Academy of Asian Studies, a graduate school of
the University of the Pacific. There he studied with Lama Tada, Gi Ming Shein, Haridas
Chaudrai, and Alan Watts. It was Alan Watts, in his autobiography, In My Own Way, who
called Pierre a “true Jnana yogi, one who achieves enlightenment by a purely intellectual
means.” After attending many Sesshins, and meditation retreats, Myzumi Roshi and Koryu
Roshi confirmed Pierre’s enlightenment.
In 1982, the Son (Zen) master Chong-An of the Chogye Buddhist order of Korea invited
Pierre to join him in the creation of a center that would combine Buddhism and Platonic
philosophy. This became Opening Mind Academy and part of Virtue Mountain Temple.
Chong-An gave Pierre the name Hui-An, conferred on him the title of Master Dharma
Teacher and he was sealed as Chong-An’s Dharma Successor. Chong-An was later sealed as
Myo-Bong, the Patriarchal Dharma Successor of Venerable Hye-Am, the 33rd patriarch
from Lin Chi.
Pierre was a full-time philosophy instructor at Golden West College in Huntington Beach,
CA for fifty years and was a professor of philosophy at the University of Philosophical
Research and the Holmes Institute, the divinity school of the Church of Religious Science.
He conducted week-long seminars at Esalen Institute for over twenty-five years, as well as
many meditation/philosophical exploration retreats at various locations. He and other
members of the Noetic Society have presented his work in the form of demonstrations as
well as papers at many international conferences.
The philosophical counseling movement began with Pierre Grimes’ publications on the
dialectic as a mode of psychology in 1961. In 1978, he incorporated his philosophical
midwife program under the Noetic Society. He is the founder and Board member of the
American Philosophical Practitioners Association; its President, Lou Marinoff, PhD, has
recognized Pierre as the founder of this new direction in philosophy.
