Disrupting Polarization with Plato, Philosophical Dungeon Master

 In this episode, Manny and Jeanette explore how immersive role-playing games can do what abstract debate often cannot: loosen the grip of political tribalism. Focusing on Athens Besieged, a Reacting to the Past simulation run in an Ancient Ethics course at EWU, the episode shows how forced role reversal, coalition-building, and high-stakes scarcity compel students to inhabit views they would normally reject. These mechanics mirror Plato’s own project in the Republic, written amid the collapse of Athenian democracy, where philosophical inquiry responds to factional chaos. Rather than treating the Kallipolis as a rigid blueprint, the hosts frame Plato as a “philosophical Dungeon Master,” using myths like the Ring of Gyges and the Cave as sandbox scenarios for testing justice. RPGs, they argue, operationalize Plato’s insight from the Laws: ideals guide us, but virtue is formed through repeated practice, ritual, and shared inquiry.Disruptive assignment alignment: Athens Besieged RPGSourcesBowman, Sarah Lynne, et al. Transformative Role-Playing Game Design. Uppsala University Publications, 2024.Carnes, Mark C. Minds on Fire: How Role-Immersion Games Transform College. Harvard UP, 2014.Chappell, Sophie Grace. Knowing What to Do: Imagination, Virtue, and Platonism in Ethics. Oxford University Press (UK), 2014.Hammer, Jessica, et al. “Learning and Role-Playing Games.” The Routledge Handbook of Role-playing Game Studies, edited by José P. Zagal and Sebastian Deterding, Routledge, 2024.Kirby, Christopher. “Plato, Philosophical Dungeon Master: Breaking into Dialectic in the Republic.” Medium, 5 Oct. 2021Kirby, Christopher C., and Brolin Graham. "Gadamer, Dewey, and the Importance of Play in Philosophical Inquiry." Reason Papers, vol. 38, no. 1, spring 2016, pp. 8+Norman, Naomi J., and Mark C. Carnes. The Threshold of Democracy: Athens in 403 BCE. University of North Carolina Press, 2022.Plato. Republic. Translated by G. M. A. Grube, revised by C. D. C. Reeve, Hackett, 1992.Plato. Laws. Translated by Trevor J. Saunders, Penguin Classics, 2004.Spencer, Albert. Philosophy of Role-Playing Games. Bloomsbury Academic, 2025.Lederach, John Paul. Little Book of Conflict Transformation: Clear Articulation of the Guiding Principles by a Pioneer in the Field. Good Books, 2014.McAdams, Dan P. “Narrative Identity.” Handbook of Identity Theory and Research, edited by Seth J. Schwartz et al., Springer, 2011, pp. 99-115.Simkins, David. "Playing with ethics: Experiencing new ways of being in RPGs." Ethics and game design: Teaching values through play. IGI Global Scientific Publishing, 2010. 69-84.Travis, Roger. "Bioshock in the cave: Ethical education in Plato and in video games." Ethics and game design: Teaching values through play. IGI Global Scientific Publishing, 2010. 86-101.Williams, Bernard. Moral Luck. Cambridge University Press, 1981. Episode CreditsProducer and Editor: Dr. Christopher C. KirbyThis work is made possible by the Jeffers W. Chertok Memorial Endowment at Eastern Washington University.**The views expressed in this program are not necessarily those of Eastern Washington University