[Book Series] Role Ethics: Human and Specific Roles

The first book lecture/meetup series, on Becker, seemed to go quite well, so I thought I'd try another one.

It's all well and good to agree that we should be prosocial, but how do we actually do prosociality in a complex world with vast possible circles of concern? One approach is the role ethics framework introduced by Epictetus. In The Role Ethics of Epictetus, Brian Johnson reconstructs the precise principles of Epictetus' approach to roles and argues that it is Epictetus' innovation, departing from earlier Stoic role ethics.

In this meetup, I will aim to cover approximately the first two chapters, "Epictetus' Role for Human Beings" and "Bearing Many Roles: Specific Roles in an Individual's Life". I may end up covering more or fewer chapters as I put the slides together.

Sticking to the format that worked well with Becker, this meetup will start with an approximately 1-hour lecture before moving into the usual discussion format.