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Persistence and Narrative Identity

Henderson, Jared Zachary
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1366647734

Abstract Details

2013, Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, Philosophy.
This thesis concerns itself primarily with the problem of persistence for persons and a particular solution given to that problem by Marya Schechtman. Schechtman's solution is a member of a family of views that emphasizes the role of narrative in persons' lives. My comments are directed at Schechtman, though they should have reasonable applicability to all views that claim that narrative allows for persons to persist throughout time. I make two major arguments. One, narrative theorists use ethical claims to justify metaphysical conclusions. This, I claim, is a misstep. I argue that ethics and ontology are two separate fields, and ontology is prior to ethics. Two, narrative theorists claim that narrative can allow for the same experiencing being to have multiple experiences attributed to it at different points of time by encompassing those experiences within the narrative. This, I argue, is not the case. I draw on some recent trends in the psychology of memory as well as a philosophical account of memory found in Peter Godfrey-Smith's work. I then argue that narrative, by its own virtue, is constructive, and any constructive identity will have to be constructed out of stable materials in order for it to be stable. By both the philosophical account I provide and the psychological account I reference, this is not the case. Narrative does not persist because the building blocks of narrative, memories and representations of events, do not remain constant, and while even the relations between representations of events may persist, the representations do not.
Alfred Lent (Advisor)
73 p.
Philosophy
Philosophy; metaphysics; personal identity; narrative; narrativity; persistence; representation; memory

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Henderson, J. Z. (2013). Persistence and Narrative Identity [Undergraduate thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1366647734

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Henderson, Jared. Persistence and Narrative Identity. 2013. Ohio University, Undergraduate thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1366647734.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Henderson, Jared. "Persistence and Narrative Identity." Undergraduate thesis, Ohio University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1366647734

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2013, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University Honors Tutorial College and OhioLINK.