Fractured Narrative Self-Understanding - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Fractured Narrative Self-Understanding

Or: my Master's thesis, and what I learned writing it

Samuel van BruchemSlide2

Background

After Descartes/essentialism: two positions concerning personal identity over time:

Diachronic atomism

Diachronic holismSlide3

Diachronic atomism

Galen Strawson:

Selves are real mental things, but they exist only for a short time (max. 3 sec)

Pearl theory: Selves succeed one another like pearls on a stringSlide4

Diachronic atomism – criticism

Diachronic atomism:

Provides no means to respond to imputations of personal identity (MacIntyre)

Treats selves with a neutrality selves simply do not exhibit (Taylor, Ricoeur)

– We have goals that we set for ourselves and values we strive to adhere to. These are not a matter of indifference to us!Slide5

Diachronic holism

Narrativity:

Connects our 'basic' actions into intelligible wholes. Such wholes are more primitive than basic actions (hence the quotation marks)

Connects actions with goals and values we deem worthy and thereby allows us to evaluate our own actionsSlide6

Diachronic holism

Narrativity – three layers:

Basic actions (low-level)

Social practices/institutions (medium-level)

Reflective stepping back (high-level)

One needs to reflectively step back in order to see one's life as a wholeSlide7

Diachronic holism

Narrativity:

Is necessary to evaluate your actions in the light of your life as a whole

As a consequence, narrativity is necessary to decide reflectively between values

cf. Taylor: strong evaluation vs. weak weighing

Reflectively deciding between values is necessary to live the good lifeSlide8

Galen Strawson (again)

Against Narrativity:

Psychologically speaking, it is not true for me that I see the whole of my life in narrative terms

Ethically speaking, it is not true for me that I am disbarred from living the good life

Plea for diversity (or is it?) Slide9

Galen Strawson (again)

Against Narrativity:

Narrativity not as a haughty ideal, but as a trivial phenomenon. For instance, the order of actions needed to make coffee is a narrative sequence.

Poses a dilemma:

Strawson is wrong with respect to his self-experience and he does have narrativity (chauvinism)

Narrativity is not necessary to live the good life (trivialism)Slide10

Fractured Narrative Self-Understanding

Diachronic holism – criticism:

Two options:

Either: diachronic holism does not account for radical social change at all because of the emphasis on social embeddedness

Or: diachronic holism makes radical social change looks easy because you can always step back and reflect

→ no way to account for personal costs associated with radical social changeSlide11

Fractured Narrative Self-Understanding

Fractures:

It is possible for a person to change social contexts and to have most or all of her actions make sense in one context but not in another

Difference between changed meaning and meaninglessness (e.g. burying a hatchet, throwing down a gauntlet)

Fractures lead to disorientation (“not knowing your way around because landmarks ceased to signify anything”)Slide12

Fractured Narrative Self-Understanding

Radical social change:

Examples:

Entering or leaving a mental institution

Entering or leaving prison

Religious (de)conversion

Note: disorientation may still occur if a person moves into a social context that most would consider objectively better (e.g. leaving Scientology)Slide13

Fractured Narrative Self-Understanding

FNSU:

Radical social change leads to construction of different selves (note: selves are not persons)

Relations of intelligibility hold internally for actions of each of these selves

Relations of intelligibility do not similarly hold between these selvesSlide14

Fractured Narrative Self-Understanding

FNSU:

Is incompatible with diachronic holism in its strong form

A weaker form of diachronic holism is possible: each of the fractured selves are diachronic wholes

Does not imply diachronic atomism, because fractured selves are still embedded in a social contextSlide15

Fractured Narrative Self-Understanding

FNSU – the way forward:

General strategy:

Argue that a person may undergo radical social change that leads to fractured narrative self-understanding

Argue that people undergoing such change are not disbarred from living the good life

Argue that this position does not render narrativity trivialSlide16

Tips:

– Thesis topic as a part of a larger story

– Supervisor: complement or counterpart?

– Prepare to enter the void

– You don't know where you'll end up, and that's okay

– If you're bugged, it's easier to come up with a workaround than to fix the bug

– You're not bad at math if you need a calculator

– Make sure it's not just you and your thesis!

– Don't try to prove God exists

– Enjoy the ride!Slide17

Tip 1:

If you're applying for a PhD:

– Make sure that your academic background, thesis topic and the PhD program(s) you choose to apply for are a seamless whole. This shows why applying for that particular PhD program is continuous with what you have been doing.

– Your letter of application/motivation tells the story of how your choice to apply for a PhD program flows naturally from what you've been doing before. Your thesis topic is a determinant of how easy or hard that story is to tell.Slide18

Thesis topic as part of a larger story

Choose a topic that will make your story easier to tell when you're applying for a PhD

For me personally: broadness as strength, so I chose a topic on the intersection of several different approaches Slide19

Tip 2

Supervisor – considerations:

– as a professor, does he specialize in the topic you have chosen, or in topics that are close and directly relevant to what you're doing?

– as a person, does he 'get' your ideas and does he help you to develop them? Or does he provide you with a lot of pushback? Do you want someone to complement you or a counterpart?Slide20

Supervisor: complement or counterpart?

Figure out what you want in a supervisor. Do you want/need someone who pushes you on or someone who challenges you?

For me personally: I benefited a lot from encouragement and from having a supervisor who knew where I was going. On the other hand, we tend to make the same mistakes...Slide21

Tip 3

Two time paths if you pursue a PhD:

– There will be a 'void' in between your RMA and your PhD (which I assume you will get, because, let's face it, you're awesome).

– You can be accepted for a PhD program immediately after completing your RMASlide22

Prepare to enter the void!I didn't, and it sucks

Universities have a lot of good candidates to choose from. When in doubt, it is in their best interest to go for the candidate who has already finished their Master's degree.

So: by all means, apply! But be prepared for the possibility that you may have to fill some time in between.

For me personally: I didn't prepare; I wanted the second option. I tend to delay my graduation and procrastinate on my thesis because of that.Slide23

Tip 4

When choosing an essay topic, you may have a clear idea of where you want to take your essay.

– Refute an argument or place constraints on its applicability

– Uncover a hidden assumption in an argument and put it to the challenge

– Point out that a vital concept is used in a vague or ambiguous manner

Your Master's thesis will probably not consist of a single move like that, but contain multiple movesSlide24

You don't know where you'll end up and that's okay!

When you start working on your RMA thesis, you probably don't know exactly what moves you'll be making and where you'll end up. That's true for most (or perhaps even all) of us, so don't worry about it and trust the process!

For me personally: I knew I was interested in narrativity and personal identity, but I had to write a whole theory chapter before I knew what direction I would take in my thesis.Slide25

Tip 5

We all have them, bugs. Little weird/irrational habits that seem to really distract you from focusing on your thesis in the long run.

For instance, I have a compulsive need to make sure that paragraphs end at the exact line a page ends. Two stupid lines of text at the top of the next page are the bane of my existence!

(no, really. It's that bad)Slide26

If you're bugged, it's easier to come up with a workaround than to fix the bug

I have told myself to get over my compulsive need and focus on writing my thesis. It doesn't work and it costs a lot of energy – more than accepting my idiosyncratic editing habit.

So: accept your bugs, at least for now. We all have them and it's easier to live with them than to fix them while writing your thesis.Slide27

Tip 6

Sometimes, while writing your thesis, you may get so far lost in all kinds of different thoughts about your thesis topic that it becomes impossible to oversee the whole of your thesis. That happened to me more than once. I was unprepared for that and it made me feel like I wasn't a very good philosopher. However, once I started writing out different strands of thought, I got a better sense for where I stood.Slide28

You're not bad at math if you need a calculator

I made the analogy with doing arithmetic. I can do simple arithmetic from the top of my head, but I need a calculator to do really complex stuff. That doesn't mean I have suddenly become bad at math if I need a calculator, but simply that the problem has become more complex.

So, if your thesis problems are too complex to wrap your head around instantly, remember: you're not bad at math if you need a calculator. Slide29

Tip 7

Non-thesis-related stuff can be much of a distraction. After all, meeting up with friends, taking lots of courses, attending Wippermaffles and all that is just more fun than working steadily on the same g&*%#mned thesis.

But: we're smart. So we might tell our friends we are really busy and cut down on other distractions to make sure we're fully focused on that thesis.

And that's a terrible idea.Slide30

Make sure it's not just you and your thesis!

For me personally, working on my thesis is not very rewarding a lot of the time. Progress is slow, there's lots of frustration and most of the time I have no idea if the thing I'm working on is at least going to be half-decent.

No distractions also means less having a sense of personal efficacy,less positive reinforcement, and less distraction when, just for a moment, you don't want to think about your thesis. So: make sure it's not just you and your thesis!Slide31

Tip 8

As a TA, I have the privilege of grading other people's papers based on mistakes that I myself still make. If I'm even luckier, I might learn from their mistakes. This is one of those times.

A (good) student wrote an essay on the Eutyphro dilemma and spent a good chunk of his essay trying to prove that God exists. His proof was easily the weakest part of his essay and, unfortunately, kept him from devoting more time to his more interesting approach to the dilemma.Slide32

Don't try to prove God exists!

Later, it occurred to me that I was making the exact same mistake. I thought I had to argue against the non-selfers about the existence of the self. It didn't work and it took up space I had better use for. Also, it was kind of unnecessary.

It's okay to ask of your audience to accept a few basic premises. You can't prove everything in a single work, not even a Master's thesis. So, if you think you have to defend everything you say: don't try to prove God exists!Slide33

Tip 9

Working on your thesis can be a drag. It's slow, often you don't feel like you're making any progress, and at times you might feel like you'll never finish the thing. I have certainly felt that way about my thesis.

Even so, writing your thesis is also an incredibly rewarding experience. This is your chance to delve deeper into literature that you like and to get a better feel for the depth of philosophical arguments. There's a beautiful world in there to explore, and this is your chance to do so!Slide34

Enjoy the ride!

Even more importantly, there ware enough times that I felt like my thesis wasn't progressing at all, but when I stepped back and reflected on my understanding, I certainly felt like I was making progress as a philosopher. I'm sure I'm not exceptional in that regard.

This is the most important tip of all. When you're bogged down, when your thesis seems to be going nowhere, remember to look at the great stuff you get to study and to look at how much better you're getting at doing philosophy. This is you developing your potential. Enjoy the ride!