Role Check

Role Check (Persona Doctrine)

Identify your roles in any situation, determine what each role requires, and perform your function excellently — regardless of outcome or how others perform theirs.

When to Use

• Facing ethical dilemmas or conflicting duties
• Uncertain about what to do in a situation
• Torn between personal desires and responsibilities
• Dealing with others who aren't fulfilling their roles
• User asks "What should I do?" or "What's my duty here?"

Inputs

The Stoic Framework

Epictetus taught that each person occupies multiple roles simultaneously:

"Remember that you are an actor in a play, which is as the playwright wants it to be: short if he wants it short, long if he wants it long. If he wants you to play a beggar, play even that role well — and so for a cripple, a magistrate, or an ordinary person. For this is your job: to play the assigned role well. But the choice of role belongs to another."

Categories of Roles

Universal Role: What applies to all humans

• Rational being
• Citizen of the cosmos
• Social creature meant to cooperate

Relational Roles: Based on relationships

• Parent, child, sibling
• Friend, neighbor
• Citizen, colleague

Chosen Roles: What you've elected

• Professional roles
• Commitments and promises made
• Causes you've adopted

Circumstantial Roles: Assigned by fate

• Your body and its conditions
• The era and place you live
• Events that happen to you

The Key Insight

Your roles carry duties. You are responsible for fulfilling those duties excellently — but not for the outcomes, and not for how others perform their roles.

"When someone acts badly toward you, immediately consider: 'What judgment about good or evil led him to this?' When you see this, you will pity him, and feel neither surprise nor anger. For you yourself judge either the same thing to be good as he does, or something else of the same sort."

Analysis Steps

Step 1: Identify All Roles

List every role you occupy in this situation:

• What are you to the people involved?
• What responsibilities do you hold?
• What have you committed to?

Step 2: Determine Role Requirements

For each role, ask: "What does this role require of me?"

• What would a good [parent/friend/colleague] do here?
• What are the duties inherent to this role?
• What does virtue demand of someone in this position?

Step 3: Check for Conflicts

Do any role requirements conflict?

• If so, which role takes precedence?
• The universal role (rational being) generally overrides particular roles
• Chosen commitments generally create stronger obligations
• Consider: what would a wise person prioritize?

Step 4: Separate Your Role from Others'

Clearly distinguish:

• What is your role and duty?
• What is their role and duty?

Their failures do not excuse yours. You are responsible for your role only.

Step 5: Focus on Excellence, Not Outcome

Ask:

• What does excellent performance of this role look like?
• What can I control about how I fulfill this role?
• The outcome is not up to me — the quality of my action is.

Step 6: Act

Perform your role as well as you can. Accept whatever results.

Workflow

Step 1: Gather and Review Inputs

Collect all relevant information:

• Review the provided data and context
• Identify key parameters and constraints
• Clarify any ambiguities or missing information
• Establish success criteria

Step 2: Analyze the Situation

Perform systematic analysis:

• Identify patterns and relationships
• Evaluate against established frameworks
• Consider multiple perspectives
• Document key findings

Step 3: Generate Recommendations

Create actionable outputs:

• Synthesize insights from analysis
• Prioritize recommendations by impact
• Ensure recommendations are specific and measurable
• Consider implementation feasibility

Output Format

## Role Analysis

### The Situation
[Brief description of the circumstance]

### Roles Identified

| Role | Source | Duties |
|------|--------|--------|
| [Role 1] | [Universal/Relational/Chosen/Circumstantial] | [What this role requires] |
| [Role 2] | [Source] | [Duties] |

### Conflict Check
[Is there tension between roles? If so, how to resolve?]

### My Role vs. Others' Roles

| Person | Their Role | Their Duty |
|--------|-----------|------------|
| [Person 1] | [Role] | [What their role requires — NOT your responsibility] |

### What Excellence Requires
[What does performing your role excellently look like in this situation?]

### Action Plan
[Specific steps to fulfill your role, focused on what is up to you]

### The Stoic Reminder
> [Relevant Epictetus quote on roles and duty]

Constraints

• Do not confuse roles with outcomes — you perform the role; you don't guarantee results
• Avoid role overreach — stay in your lane; don't take responsibility for others' roles
• Role requirements come from the role itself, not from others' expectations
• Some roles conflict; resolution requires judgment, not rigid rules
• Performing a role well does not mean the outcome will be good

Outputs

Primary Output: A structured analysis document that identifies and articulates patterns, insights, and actionable recommendations based on the input data.

Format:

## Analysis: [Topic]

### Key Findings
- [Finding 1]
- [Finding 2]
- [Finding 3]

### Recommendations
1. [Action 1]
2. [Action 2]
3. [Action 3]

Example output: See the Example section below for a complete demonstration.

Example

Input: "My adult daughter is making terrible financial decisions — she just spent her emergency fund on a vacation. I want to help but she gets defensive when I bring it up. I don't know if I should say something or mind my own business."

Output:

Role Analysis

The Situation

Adult daughter making poor financial decisions. Parent concerned but uncertain whether to intervene. Previous attempts met with defensiveness.

Roles Identified

Conflict Check

There is tension between:

• Caring for her wellbeing (which might suggest intervention)
• Respecting her autonomy (which suggests stepping back)

Resolution: As she is an adult, her choices are now up to her. The parental role shifts from authority to advisor. Advice can be offered; it cannot be imposed.

My Role vs. Others' Roles

Her financial decisions are not up to you. How she responds to advice is not up to you. Whether she changes is not up to you.

What Excellence Requires

An excellent parent of an adult child:

• Offers wisdom when appropriate
• Does not force or control
• Respects that she will learn from her own experience
• Remains available without being intrusive
• Loves without conditions attached to behavior

You may express concern once, clearly and without judgment. After that, the role of parent requires stepping back.

Action Plan

1. Up to you: One clear, non-judgmental expression of concern
2. Up to you: Letting go of the outcome
3. Not up to you: Her response, her decisions, her learning process
4. The boundary: You are not responsible for her financial wellbeing; she is an adult

The Stoic Reminder

"Consider: when your neighbor's slave breaks his cup, you say 'These things happen.' Why then, when your own cup breaks, should you not say the same? Carry this to higher things. Has another's child died, or another's wife? No one would say anything but 'Such is fate.' Yet when your own dies, you cry 'Alas! Wretched me!' Remember how you feel when you hear the same thing about others." — Epictetus, Enchiridion 26

Applied: You can observe others making poor choices calmly. When it is your daughter, it feels different — but the principle remains. Her life is hers to live.

Integration

This skill is part of the Epictetus expert persona. The role doctrine is central to Epictetus's ethical framework, providing practical guidance for action without attachment to outcomes. It complements the dichotomy of control by focusing on appropriate action (what is up to us) rather than results (what is not).