Selfhood and its Stories (FORM 2840)

Education · Boston College

What is the self? How is our self related to the stories we tell about ourselves? Can one tell a true life story? Or are the stories of our lives better regarded as "fictions," spun out to the narrative imagination? Drawing on readings from psychology, literature, and philosophy as well as selected autobiographies and memoirs, this course will examine the process by which people create and tell the stories of their lives. Topics include the nature of memory, the palce of language and culture in shaping the self, the difference between life as lived and life as told, and the role of lif

Professors who teach this course