Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-nr592 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-18T17:50:15.716Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Narrative and persistence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Eric T. Olson  and
Karsten Witt
Eric T. Olson
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
Karsten Witt
Affiliation:
Institute of Philosophy, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Many philosophers say that the nature of personal identity has to do with narratives: the stories we tell about ourselves. While different narrativists address different questions of personal identity, some propose narrativist accounts of personal identity over time. The paper argues that such accounts have troubling consequences about the beginning and end of our lives, lead to inconsistencies, and involve backwards causation. The problems can be solved, but only by modifying the accounts in ways that deprive them of their appeal.

Keywords

Narrativismnarrative identitypersonal identity

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , May 2019 , pp. 419 - 434
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

Olson and Witt are equal co-authors and their names appear in alphabetical order.

References

Baker, L. R., 2016. “Making Sense of Ourselves: Self-Narratives and Personal Identity.” Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 15: 7–15. doi:10.1007/s11097-014-9358-y.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belohrad, R., 2015. “Subjective Theories of Personal Identity and Practical Concerns.” Organon, 22: 282–301.Google Scholar
Christman, J., 2004. “Narrative Unity as a Condition of Personhood.” Metaphilosophy, 35: 695–713. doi:10.1111/meta.2004.35.issue-5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davenport, J. J., 2012. Narrative Identity, Autonomy, and Mortality: From Frankfurt and MacIntyre to Kierkegaard. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeGrazia, D., 2005. Human Identity and Bioethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glover, J., 1988. I: The Philosophy and Psychology of Personal Identity. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Goldie, P., 2014. The Mess Inside: Narrative, Emotion, and the Mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, D., 1976. “The Paradoxes of Time Travel.” American Philosophical Quarterly, 13: 145–152.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, A., 1984. After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. 2 ed. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
McMahan, J., 2002. The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellor, D. H., 1998. Real Time II. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merkel, R. G., Fegert, B. J., Galert, T., Hartmann, D., Nuttin, B., and Rosahl, S.. 2007. Intervening in the Brain: Changing Psyche and Society. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Olson, E. T., 1997. The Human Animal: Personal Identity Without Psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Olson, E. T., 2016. Personal Identity. In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Spring 2016 edition, edited by Edward, Zalta. <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2016/entries/identity-personal/>.Google Scholar
Peterson, C., Grant, V. V., and Boland, L. D.. 2005. “Childhood Amnesia in Children and Adolescents: Their Earliest Memories.” Memory, 13: 622–637. doi:10.1080/09658210444000278.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rudd, A., 2005. “Narrative, Expression and Mental Substance.” Inquiry, 48: 413–435. doi:10.1080/00201740500241870.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudd, A., 2009. “In Defence of Narrative.” European Journal of Philosophy, 17: 60–75. doi:10.1111/ejop.2009.17.issue-1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudd, A., 2012. Self, Value, and Narrative: A Kierkegaardian Approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schechtman, M., 1990. “Personhood and Personal Identity.” Journal of Philosophy, 87: 71–92. doi:10.2307/2026882.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schechtman, M., 1996. The Constitution of Selves. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Schechtman, M., 2003. “Empathic Access: The Missing Ingredient in Personal Identity.” In Personal Identity, edited by Martin, R. and Barresi, J., 238–259. Malden: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Schechtman, M., 2007. “Stories, Lives, and Basic Survival: A Refinement and Defense of the Narrative View.” In Narrative and Understanding Persons, edited by Hutto, D., 155–178. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schechtman, M., 2009. “Getting Our Stories Straight: Self-Narrative and Personal Identity.” In Personal Identity and Fractured Selves: Perspectives from Philosophy, Ethics, and Neuroscience, edited by Debra, J. H., Mathews, H. B., and Rabins, P. V., 65–92. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Schechtman, M., 2014. Staying Alive: Personal Identity, Practical Concerns, and the Unity of a Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schroer, J. W., and Schroer, R.. 2014. “Getting the Story Right: A Reductionist Narrative Account of Personal Identity.” Philosophical Studies, 171: 445–469. doi:10.1007/s11098-014-0278-z.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shoemaker, D., 2009. Personal Identity and Ethics. Peterborough: Broadview Press.Google Scholar
Shoemaker, S., 1984. “Personal Identity: A Materialist’s Account.” In Personal Identity, edited by Shoemaker, S. and Swinburne, R., 69–132. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Sider, T., 2001. “Criteria of Personal Identity and the Limits of Conceptual Analysis.” In Philosophical Perspectives, edited by Tomberlin, J., 189–209. Vol. 15. Cambridge: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Stokes, P., 2012. “Is Narrative Identity Four-Dimensionalist?” European Journal of Philosophy, 20: 86–106. doi:10.1111/ejop.2012.20.issue-s1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strawson, G., 2008. “Against Narrativity.” In Real Materialism and Other Essays, 189–207. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Witt, K., forthcoming. “Narrative and Characterization.” To appear inErkenntnis. doi:10.1007/s10670-018-0017-5.Google Scholar