The game of thought: Theater Games as an active methodology in Philosophy Education

Abstract

This paper examines the possibility of approaching the teaching of philosophy through theater games in classroom. Drawing on Wittgenstein’s conception of language-games, philosophy is understood as a plural and everyday practice, which allows for a critique of the traditional educational model referred to here as the “explicative model”. We argue that philosophy education must operate through active engagement, since only an active encounter with problems enables students to genuinely philosophize – that is, to confront philosophical issues through conceptual thought. The text defends that play, understood as an activity governed by minimal rules, creative tension, and free participation, provides an adequate structure for the lived experience of thinking. In this context, the article analyzes the potential of Viola Spolin’s theater games and Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed as methodological alternatives capable of generating situations of listening, problem-encounter, and conceptual creation, resonating with Deleuze’s philosophy and Silvio Gallo’s defense of active pedagogy. It concludes that theatrical games constitute a pertinent approach to philosophy education, as they shift the focus from the transmission of philosophical content to collective experimentation, allowing thought to emerge as an event rather than as mere reproduction.