The Practice of Identity: Narratives and Negotiation

This work argues that one’s practical identity is negotiated . The thesis comprises two parts. The first part reviews the psychological views of personal identity of Locke, Parfit and Schechtman. I argue that although Schechtman’s practical approach is a necessary corrective to the metaphysical approaches of Locke and Parfit, it does not account convincingly for certain identities (namely those involving delusional self-narratives and identity crises). In the second part, I develop an alternative framework for a narrative approach to practical identity that incorporates – in addition to ordinary everyday narratives – delusional narratives and life crises by examining the role of embodied intersubjectivity and second-personal narratives for one’s identity. This leads to arguing that personal identity is negotiated in embodied interactions involving an interplay between one’s self-conception, embodied narratives and ordinary everyday narratives. According to this narrative approach , firstly, ordinary narratives often suffice to convey our experiences, beliefs, relations, within everyday interactions with others. You do not need grand, literary, representational narratives to have a narrative identity (even though sometimes extraordinary stories and extensive autobiographies have a role in organising one’s experiences, beliefs and relations to the past and the present). Secondly, embodiment is important because the interplay between reflective and reflexive subjectivity allows one to develop ‘embodied narratives’, i.e. temporally organised and goal-directed sequences of actions, habits and skills that support one’s practical identity. Thirdly, we negotiate our identity through narratives that structure first-personal and second-personal practical relations. Nicknames – such as using the name ‘Napoleon’ to address someone’s delusion of being Napoleon – are discussed as examples of negotiated practical identity that can accommodate delusional narratives, when they are used as a recognition of the practical significance of delusional narratives in shaping one’s sense of self and interactions with others.