Narrative identity and phenomenology

Jakub Čapek

Univerzita Karlova v Praze

pp. 359-375

in: Continental Philosophy Review 50 (3), 2017.

Abstract

Narrative identity theory in some of its influential variants (A. MacIntyre or P. Ricœur) makes three fundamental assumptions. First, it focuses on personal identity primarily in terms of selfhood. Second, it argues that personal identity is to be understood as the unity of one's life as it develops over time. And finally, it states that the unity of a life is articulated, by the very person itself, in the form of a story, be it explicit or implicit. The article focuses on different contemporary phenomenological appraisals of the narrative account (in the works of David Carr, Dan Zahavi and László Tengelyi). The survey of this partly critical debate is followed by concluding observations concerning a possible phenomenological theory of personal identity.