Sobre la Eutrapelia, o la virtud del juego. Moralidad, historia y educación

In this paper, the authors analyse the genesis and evolution of eutrapelia, understood as the virtue of play.It is a concept that first appears in Aristotelian philosophy and was subsequently Christianised by SaintThomas of Aquinas. This process softened the rigorism of the Fathers of the Church, who condemnedgames, theatre, amusement, etc., as part of the pompa diaboli. Thus, the virtue of play was accepted —notwithout some misgiving— with the advent of scholasticism, but was later combated —following themodel of primitive Christianity— by the Puritanism of the Lutheran reform, which rejected amusementand games in general. Consequently, we are faced with two very distinct cultural realities —one Catholicand the other Lutheran— that will adopt opposing attitudes to play during the Modern Era. While theformer will accept play provided that it abides by the virtue of eutrapelia, the latter will have a more radicalposture aligned with a rigorist ethics, which will even influence authors such as Rousseau, who objectedto the presence of a playhouse in his home city of Geneva. Thus, under the conceptual shelter ofeutrapelia, play is present in a large part of the pedagogical treatises written from the Late Middle Ages tothe Modern Era and including Renaissance Humanism. Also through eutrapelia, play will enter thecontemporary world, being accepted by Catholic theologians such as Hugo Rahner and Protestanttheologians such as Jürgen Moltmann, who will lay down the foundations for a theology of play based ona Deus ludens who, in turn, justifies the existence of a homo ludens