Philosophical Research in Drama Education: the case of creativity

Discussions about the nature and role of research in drama education tend to focus on research of an empirical nature, either quantitative or qualitative. One centrally important type of research is often neglected, that is, research which is philosophical in nature. Yet the kind of inquiry which philosophy embodies is of central importance to the development of sound theories and practices and, moreover, provides the grounding for meaningful research of the empirical kind. In this paper, I explicate the nature of philosophical inquiry and argue for its importance for drama education. I develop this argument with reference to the concept of dramatic creativity, using a philosophical examination of this concept to demonstrate how drama education can be informed by philosophical inquiry.