Narrative and Understanding Persons

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.

• This volume brings together nine original papers on a topic of growing importance and interest • Covers a wide range of philosophical topics • No other edited volume exists with this profile/focus on this topic

The Expression of Mind in Narrative Gregory Currie; The Narrative Practice Hypothesis: Origins and Applications of Folk Psychology Daniel D. Hutto; Dramatic Irony and the External Perspective Peter Goldie; Episodic Ethics Galen Strawson; Why Literature is a Poor Model for 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 Marya Schechtman; Narratives of Accomplishment and Desert: Morally Harmful Master Narratives Owen Flanagan; Self and Other as Limits of Narrativity Dan Zahavi; Pathologies in Narrative Structure Shaun Gallagher.