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II
INDIVIDUALISM AND SUBJECTIVITY
Aristotle’s student, Alexander the Great, conquered most of the known world, in the
process spreading Greek culture and language from Egypt to India and creating vital
centers of learning, such as Alexandria. However, soon after his early death his empire
fell apart. There followed in Greece a long period of dynastic fighting from which
Rome emerged as the center of a new empire. Although Roman philosophers
invariably took Greek philosophical ideas as their point of departure, they often
developed these ideas in interesting ways. Nowhere is this more evident than in their
theories of the self and personal identity.
Roman Stoicism
The Greek word “ prosopon ” originally meant playing a role in a drama or in a
religious ceremony. However, with the rise and democratization of the Greek
city-states, the word began to acquire a wholly secular meaning, which had to do
with social and legal roles. Certain kinds of citizens were recognized as having
rights and duties that distinguished them from others. In earlier Greek thought
about people and society, the emphasis was on these roles. Only slight attention
was given to the individuals who occupied the roles. People were regarded as lit-
tle more than placeholders. However, when the Greek city-states declined, there
followed a period of pessimism during which the traditional emphasis on harmo-
nious relationships in the polis among essentially replaceable individuals waned.
Cynics and Stoics, in particular, emphasized inner resources for adaptation to the