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People sometimes think about their own lives in terms of an unfolding story and make sense of events in their lives by situating them within that narrative. Biographies, autobiographies, and fictions also present lives in narrative form. But what is the relation between a life as lived and the form of a narrative? Are our lives essentially story-shaped? Or could it be that we fundamentally misrepresent our lives when we think about them in this way? What determines whether the stories we tell ourselves are truthful and how strong is the tendency to self-deception? And how do we adapt when the stories we tell ourselves come undone?
This weekend intensive course will take place in person in Vancouver, Canada. You will be expected to have done the reading in advance, which will be provided when you register for the course. No prior training in philosophy is expected, but you will be required to read some moderately difficult texts on your own. University-level English reading skills will be an asset.
Course participants will be provided with a packet of readings in PDF format. In addition, I will ask you to provide your own copy of Leo Tolstoy’s novella, The Death of Ivan Ilyich. I will be working with the Vintage Classics edition, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, but if you have a separate edition of your own, that should be fine.
Session 1 (May 27): The coherence of a life: Charles Taylor and Jonathan Lear
Session 2 (May 28): Narrativity and anti-narrativity 1: Jean-Paul Sartre and Alasdair MacIntyre
Session 3 (May 28): Narrativity and anti-narrativity 2: Galen Strawson and Richard Moran
Session 4 (May 29): Narrative and self-deception: Daniel Dennett and Samuel Beckett
Session 5 (May 29): Narrative and death: Kathy Behrendt and Leo Tolstoy
View entire list of upcoming courses available to join
Check out summaries from past courses.
People sometimes think about their own lives in terms of an unfolding story and make sense of events in their lives by situating them within that narrative. Biographies, autobiographies, and fictions also present lives in narrative form. But what is the relation between a life as lived and the form of a narrative? Are our lives essentially story-shaped? Or could it be that we fundamentally misrepresent our lives when we think about them in this way? What determines whether the stories we tell ourselves are truthful and how strong is the tendency to self-deception? And how do we adapt when the stories we tell ourselves come undone
This weekend intensive course will take place in person in Vancouver, Canada. You will be expected to have done the reading in advance, which will be provided when you register for the course. No prior training in philosophy is expected, but you will be required to read some moderately difficult texts on your own. University-level English reading skills will be an asset.
Course participants will be provided with a packet of readings in PDF format. In addition, I will ask you to provide your own copy of Leo Tolstoy’s novella, The Death of Ivan Ilyich. I will be working with the Vintage Classics edition, translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, but if you have a separate edition of your own, that should be fine.
Session 1 (May 27): The coherence of a life: Charles Taylor and Jonathan Lear
Session 2 (May 28): Narrativity and anti-narrativity 1: Jean-Paul Sartre and Alasdair MacIntyre
Session 3 (May 28): Narrativity and anti-narrativity 2: Galen Strawson and Richard Moran
Session 4 (May 29): Narrative and self-deception: Friedrich Nietzsche and Samuel Beckett
Session 5 (May 29): Narrative and death: Kathy Behrendt and Leo Tolstoy
View entire list of upcoming courses available to join
Check out summaries from past courses.