The Tyranny of Narrativity (Part 1) - Is Life Just One Big Self-Authored Story?

On The Very Idea - A Philosophy Podcast

In this first episode of a two part series, I look at the idea of how we make sense of our lives to ourselves. Our life is a big jumble of events. How do I think about my life and understand these events so that they cohere into something that constitutes a life, a self, an identity. By far, the most popular notion of doing this is to structure these events as a story. Academia has seized on this notion of making sense of our lives through narrativity so much so that it has become one of the few (near) consensus ideas in the humanities and social sciences. Against this wave of acceptance of narrativity stands one philosopher, Galen Strawson. I look at the work of Strawson and attempt to piece out the idea that, if we don't live our life according to a story, then how do we live it? Plus, the usual trivia and rambling.