How We Make Our ‘Selves’
State-of-the-art neuro-imaging and cognitive neuropsychology both uphold the idea that we create our “selves” through narrative. In other words, we are our narratives.
Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.
“We are our narratives” has become a popular slogan. “We” refers to our selves, in the full-blooded person-constituting sense. “Narratives” refers to the stories we tell about our selves and our exploits in settings as trivial as cocktail parties and as serious as intimate discussions with loved ones. We express some in speech. Others we tell silently to ourselves, in that constant little inner voice. The full collection of one’s internal and external narratives generates the self we are intimately acquainted with. Our narrative selves continually unfold. State-of-the-art neuro-imaging and cognitive neuropsychology both uphold the idea that we create our “selves” through narrative.
Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.