Philosophy Plays: A Neo-Socratic Way of Performing Public Philosophy

This paper provides an explanatory rationale within a theoretical philosophical framework for the Philosophy Plays project as a call to public philosophy, conceived as a way of life and a form of communal therapy for the mind. The Philosophy Plays aim is to introduce philosophy to the general public through philosophical presentations by professional philosophers incorporating drama. Like Plato’s dialogues, the Philosophy Plays, that combine dialectic (the philosophical talk) with rhetoric (the drama) seek to engage their public audiences in a realistic and shared lived experience, rendering philosophy a practical and meaningful applied activity for all participants, conceived as a way of life.