Myths and role-playing as channels of philosophical worldviews

• Main Author: Dancel, Francis Joseph
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1995
• Subjects: Myth; Role playing; Philosophy; Imagination (Philosophy)
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/1313
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study, entitled Myths and Role-playing as Channels of Philosophical Worldviews, aims to show that Philosophy need not be an elitist discipline that is meant exclusively for the intellectually gifted but is actually a discipline that goes hand in hand with human existence. By showing that even simple things such as stories, specifically Myths, and role-playing, can, and be expressed, this thesis would show that the expression of Philosophical worldviews is not limited to essays and such, and thus, Philosophy is brought down, and made accessible to all.Philosophy, in the context of this thesis, is understood to be not the academic doctrines inculcated in schools such as Plato's two worlds or Kant's Categorical Imperative but is taken to be those everyday things, such as opting to help those in need, or choosing to be always truthful or being able to accept death, either as an experience through another person or as an inevitable phenomenon, or some other belief or conviction that are sometimes also understood and termed as worldviews.Myths are understood to be those tales that were woven so long ago that seemingly try to explain the nature of things. The truth is, they are symbolic stories which embody themes that speak about the most basic of human concerns, that of life and beauty and love and honor and compassion and other similar things.Role-playing games are those that stimulate an aspect of reality, with the help of imagination. By helping an individual picture in his or her mind a particular scene, and by having that individual react to that particular scene, what happens is an interaction of sorts between the one who conceptualized the scene and the one who reacts to the scene.Myths become channels of mythical worldview because the themes they embody are of the most basic concerns of humanity, ones that comprise both personal and cultural outlooks--worldviews--which was what philosophy has been understood as, in the context of this thesis.Role-playing games become channels of mythical themes because the stories and the characters within the games are the modern counterparts of the heroes and adventure stories of old.And role-playing games become mediums of philosophical worldviews because, the games, as were the Myths, become the modern channels of expression of ideas and concepts, which were once expressed through Myths by the ancient tribes. There are other means of philosophical expression but it is possible that role-playing games are one of the more significant ones, because role-playing games provide that opportunity for interaction between the one philosophizing, and the one listening.And so, with philosophical expression being possible through such everyday things such as stories and storytelling--which is what role-playing games essentially are about, the telling of stories--it becomes evident that Philosophy, then, is not really that for up above people's heads but is really a discipline of which all human beings are masters.