I’ve had a few questions about my Pronouns post, and I want to take a moment to clear up a possible confusion about “performing.” In English, the word perform has various connotations, of which we can differentiate two main themes. When actors perform a part, they are, to be crude, pretending to be someone they […]
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The Limits of Revision
My recent posts about the narrative self have generated some interesting conversation about the philosophical underpinnings of my approach to the narrative self. In “Mosaics and Bundles,” I quipped that the narrative self is “self-assembling,” to make the larger point that we are capable of self-reflective growth — which means we can revise. And if […]
Continue ReadingMosaics and bundles
A philosopher friend of mine asked an astute question about my mosaic metaphor, so I thought a bit of our conversation would make a good post. In my post Philosophy and the Narrative Self, I talked about the narrative self as a collection of stories we tell ourselves and others about who we are. I […]
Continue ReadingPhilosophy and the Narrative Self
The term “narrative self” refers to the idea that the sense of the self is mediated through narrative. In other words, you experience your “self,” your identity, through the stories that you tell about who you are. That collection of narratives includes stories you have told about your own abilities and experiences, but also stories […]
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