Narrative and Understanding Persons (Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplelment, 60)

The human world is replete with narratives – narratives of our making that are uniquely appreciated by us. Some thinkers have afforded special importance to our capacity to generate such narratives, seeing it as variously enabling us to: exercise our imaginations in unique ways; engender an understanding of actions performed for reasons; and provide a basis for the kind of reflection and evaluation that matters vitally to moral and self development. Perhaps most radically, some hold that narratives are essential for the constitution of human selves. This volume brings together nine original contributions in which the individual authors advance, develop and challenge proposals of these kinds. They critically examine the place and importance of narratives in human lives and consider the underlying capacities that permit us to produce and utilise these special artifacts. All of the papers are written in a non-technical and accessible style. "The human world is replete with narratives - narratives of our making that are uniquely appreciated by us. Some thinkers have afforded special importance to our capacity to generate and enjoy such narratives, seeing it as variously enabling us to: exercise our imaginations in unique special ways; engender an understanding of actions performed for reasons; and provide a basis for the kind of reflection and evaluation that matters vitally to moral and self development. Perhaps most radically, some hold that narratives are essential for the constitution of human selves. This volume brings together nine original contributions in which the individual authors advance, develop and challenge proposals of these kinds. They critically examine the place and importance of narratives in human lives and consider the underlying capacities that permit us to produce and utilize these special artifacts."--Publisher description "The human world is replete with narratives - narratives of our making that are uniquely appreciated by us. Some thinkers have afforded special importance to our capacity to generate and enjoy such narratives, seeing it as variously enabling us to: exercise our imaginations in unique special ways; engender an understanding of actions performed for reasons; and provide a basis for the kind of reflection and evaluation that matters vitally to moral and self development. Perhaps most radically, some hold that narratives are essential for the constitution of human selves. This volume brings together nine original contributions in which the individual authors advance, develop and challenge proposals of these kinds. They critically examine the place and importance of narratives in human lives and consider the underlying capacities that permit us to produce and utilize these special artifacts."--Jacket Contents......Page 3 List of Contributors......Page 5 Notes on Contributors......Page 7 Narrative and Understanding Persons......Page 11 Framing Narratives......Page 27 The Narrative Practice Hypothesis: Origins and Applications of Folk Psychology......Page 53 Dramatic Irony, Narrative, and the External Perspective......Page 79 Episodic Ethics......Page 95 On the Distance between Literary Narratives and Real-Life Narratives......Page 127 Reasons to be Fearful: Strawson, Death and Narrative......Page 143 Stories, Lives, and Basic Survival: A Refinement and Defense of the Narrative View......Page 165 Self and Other: The Limits of Narrative Understanding......Page 189 Pathologies in Narrative Structures......Page 213 Narrative and understanding persons / Daniel D. Hutto Framing narratives / Gregory Currie The narrative practice hypothesis : origins and applications of folk psychology / Daniel D. Hutto Dramatic irony, narrative, and the external perspective / Peter Goldie Episodic ethics / Galen Stawson On the distance between literary narratives and real-life narratives / Peter Lamarque Reasons to be fearful : Strawson, death and narrative / Kathy Behrendt Stories, lives, and basic survival : a refinement and defense of the narrative view / Maya Schechtman Self and other : the limits of narrative understanding / Dan Zahavi Pathologies in narrative structures / Shaun Gallagher.