Stoicism and Just Living: On Incarceration and Citizenship

The Public Policy Center will co-sponsor a lecture by Professor Scott Samuelson of Kirkwood Community College, entitled “Stoicism and Just Living: On Incarceration and Citizenship.” The lecture will take place on Feb. 19th at 3:30 pm.  The UI Department of Philosophy is hosting the event.

Samuelson's lecture will explore the contemporary relevance of the Stoic concepts of citizenship, freedom, and slavery for our understanding of social justice in general, and the application of those concepts to issues of incarceration and citizenship in particular.  He will  also discuss what he has learned from his work with inmates at Iowa Medical and Classification Center, a medium security correctional facility for about 900 inmates in Coralville, sometimes referred to as Oakdale prison. His conversations with inmates about their experiences of an absence of freedom have informed his understanding of these topics in ways that are far more than academic.