Philosophy in the Community: Role Models: A Really Bad (Faith) Idea

This community lecture and discussion series is organized by the Department of Philosophy to share the rewards and pleasures of philosophical reflection.

Friday, Dec. 14
7–9 pm
The Refinery, Emmanuel Anglican Church Basement
609 Dufferin Ave.

Info: emer.ohagan@usask.ca| usask.ca/philosophy/community

Role Models: A Really Bad (Faith) Idea
by Leslie Howe (Department of Philosophy)

Many people, particularly athletes, are encouraged or even required to be role models. Often a misdeed by a prominent sportsperson is decried as especially wrong just because of their place in the public eye, even though the same action by a private person might pass without comment. Do sportspersons, just because of their celebrity, have an obligation to be better than the rest of us? Should anyone strive to be a role model to others? Should anyone have a role model whom they seek to emulate? What would that mean? I shall argue that the conventional understanding of a “role model” is not very coherent, and that either having or being a role model in the usual sense is an exercise in bad faith that is morally problematic for the admirer and frequently destructive for the role model.

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