Narrating the self

Biography, 2000

AJOB Neuroscience, 2017

"Decoupling a modestly construed Narrative Self Shaping Hypothesis (or NSSH) from Strong Narrativism this paper attempts to motivate devoting our intellectual energies to the former. Here is how the action unfolds. Section one briefly introduces the notions of self-shaping and rehearses reasons for thinking that self-shaping, in a suitably tame form, is, at least to some extent, simply unavoidable for reflective beings. It is against this background that basic commitments of a modest Narrative Self-Shaping Hypothesis (or NSSH) are articulated. Section two identifies a foundational commitment – the central tenet – of all Strong Narrativist proposals, those that posit a necessary link between self-shaping (or self-constitution) and implicit Narrativizing. Section three reminds the reader of Strawson’s (2004a) challenge to Strong Narrativism. It is revealed that Strawson’s objections are most effective if they target Strong Narrativism’s central tenet construed as phenomenological revelation about what is necessary for self-experience and not merely the psychological Narrativity thesis, construed as an empirical hypothesis about typical Narrativizing proclivities. Having set the stage, section four critically examines two different strategies, pursued by Rudd (2012) and Schechtman (2007) respectively, for escaping the horns Strawson’s dilemma poses for Strong Narrativism. In the end both strategies invoke the notion of implicit Narrativizing at a crucial juncture. Section five reveals that a substantive proposal about what implicit Narrativizing might be is lacking, hence we have no reason to believe that it actually occurs. It is concluded that, as things stand, Strong Narrativism has no way of avoiding the horns of Strawson’s dilemma. The brief concluding remarks of the final section are a reminder why, despite their modesty, softer versions of the NSSH – when coupled with a developmental proposal about the narrative basis of our folk psychological competence – are non-trivial and worthy of further development and investigation."

International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 2006

The Agonist

What might be the basis of the temporal story linking a subject’s manifestations and transformations, if there is no stable core or substantial self “behind” or “before” our deeds, such that our selves lie within our deeds? So asks Robert Pippin in Nietzsche, Psychology, and First Philosophy. I explore the ways in which a story can find its basis in both “the self” and “the world.” Noting that Nietzsche insists on the separation (lack of causality) between thoughts, deeds, and the image we have of a given deed, I suggest that stories, when wielded consciously, are themselves deeds that can serve to magnify, reduce, or alter the images of previous or future deeds, based on what the interactions between our environment and our "true need" allows us to do. I note that they are often themselves inventions, not needing to be the result of factual occurrences in the world. Seen in this way, stories are a powerful tool for self- and world-transformation, and can enable us to crea...

Psychotherapy Research, 2011

Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2007

Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 2016

Purpose Speech-language pathologists know much more about children's development of fictional narratives than they do about children's development of personal narratives and the role these personal narratives play in academic success, social–emotional development, and self-regulation. The purpose of this tutorial is to provide clinicians with strategies for assessing and developing children's and adolescents' personal narratives. Method This tutorial reviews the literature on (a) the development of autobiographical event narratives and life stories, (b) factors that contribute to development of these genres, (c) the importance of these genres for the development of sense of self-identity and self-regulation, (d) deficits in personal narrative genres, and (e) strategies for eliciting and assessing event narratives and life stories. Implications To promote development of personal event narratives and life stories, speech-language pathologists can help clients retrieve ...

Journal of personality …, 2009

Journal of Constructivist …, 2008