Ebook: Narrative, Identity and the Kierkegaardian Self

Use insights from Kierkegaard to explore contemporary problems of self, time, narrative and death

'Are our lives enacted dramatic narratives? Did Kierkegaard understand human existence in these terms? Anyone grappling with these two questions will find in these excellent essays a remarkable catalogue of insights and arguments to be reckoned with in giving an answer. That is no small achievement.'
Professor Alasdair MacIntyre, University of Notre Dame
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Is each of us the main character in a story we tell about ourselves, or is this narrative understanding of selfhood misguided and possibly harmful? Are selves and persons the same thing? And what does the possibility of sudden death mean for our ability to understand the narrative of ourselves?

These questions have been much discussed both in recent philosophy and by scholars grappling with the work of the enigmatic 19th-century thinker Søren Kierkegaard. For the first time, this collection brings together figures in both contemporary philosophy and Kierkegaard studies to explore pressing issues in the philosophy of personal identity and moral psychology. It serves both to advance important ongoing discussions of selfhood and to explore the light that, 200 years after his birth, Kierkegaard is still able to shed on contemporary problems.

• Brings together leading figures in a central philosophical debate of ongoing significance: personal identity
• Engages with a range of questions of vital importance for the debate about narrative selfhood
• Demonstrates Kierkegaard’s capacity to generate new and illuminating insights for contemporary discussions across a range of traditions

The Contributors

Roman Altshuler, Visiting Assistant Professor, University of the Pacific

Kathy Behrendt, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Wilfrid Laurier University

Matias Møl Dalsgaard, PhD, University of Aarhus and CEO of GoMore

John J. Davenport, Professor of Philosophy, Fordham University

Eleanor Helms, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo

John Lippitt, Professor of Ethics and Philosophy of Religion, University of Hertfordshire and Honorary Professor of Philosophy, Deakin University

George Pattison, 1640 Chair of Divinity, University of Glasgow

Anthony Rudd, Visiting Associate Professor of Philosophy, St Olaf College and Research Fellow, University of Hertfordshire

Michael J. Sigrist, Professorial Lecturer in Philosophy, George Washington University

Marya Schechtman, Professor of Philosophy, University of Illinois, Chicago

Patrick Stokes, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Deakin University and Research Fellow, University of Hertfordshire

Michael Strawser, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Central Florida

Walter Wietzke, Instructor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, River Falls

Find out more about the authors

• Visit John Lippitt's Academia.edu profile
• Visit Patrick Stokes' website