does life have a beginning, middle and an end? | life and style | the guardian

Does life have a beginning, middle and an end? ‘Does every scene of your life – childhood summers, first kisses, bereavements – have a connecting thread? Or are they different chapters?’ Oliver Burkeman Friday 1 May 2015 15.00 BST U ntil recently, I’d assumed that most people think of their life as a story, a narrative unfolding from birth to death – albeit not necessarily a story of interest to anyone else. (The banality of some popular celebrity memoirs – My Life In Chuckling, Some Goals I Scored, that sort of thing – suggests that gripping stories are thin on the ground.) But I’d have agreed with the philosopher Daniel Dennett that “we are all virtuoso novelists… we try to make all of our material cohere into a single good story. And that story is our autobiography.” Could you have a meaningful life without this sense of continuity, this feeling that you are the person to whom your childhood happened, and who’ll experience your old age? Surely nobody could think of the scenes of their life – childhood summers, first kisses, bereavements – as lacking any connecting thread whatsoever? But Galen Strawson, another philosopher, says this is exactly how he experiences the world, and he suspects he’s not alone. “I have a past, like any human, [and] I have a respectable amount of factual knowledge about it,” he concedes in Against Narrativity , a 2004 paper highlighted recently by the behavioural scientist Jess Whittlestone. “Yet I have no sense of my life as a narrative with form.” Strawson is not an amnesiac, like Guy Pearce in Memento, constantly forgetting his experiences. It’s just that these experiences don’t feel as if they meaningfully belong to the present-day him. They are barely more connected than last week’s episode of True Detective is to next week’s episode of Gardeners’ Question Time. The question, “What has Galen Strawson made of his life?” is, he insists, one in which he’s “completely uninterested”. It’s tempting to think of such people – “Episodics,” Strawson calls them, as opposed to “Diachronics” like the rest of us – as vaguely morally suspect. Are they truly capable of saving for retirement or keeping their marriage vows? Yet there are downsides to being a Diachronic, too. As Whittlestone points out, it’s constraining: faced with some big dilemma – a junction in your career or love life, say – you might be lured into making a choice that fits with the “story so far”, when a radical change could be preferable. Research also indicates that people with a weaker sense of a self persisting Does life have a beginning, middle and an end? | Life and style... http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/may/01/tangle... 1 of 2 02/05/2015 22:19

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Does life have a beginning, middle and an end? | Life and style | The Guardian

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Does life have a beginning, middle and anend?Does every scene of your life childhood summers, first kisses, bereavements havea connecting thread? Or are they different chapters?

Oliver BurkemanFriday 1 May 2015 15.00BST

Until recently, Id assumed that most people think of their life as a story, anarrative unfolding from birth to death albeit not necessarily a story ofinterest to anyone else. (The banality of some popular celebrity memoirs MyLife In Chuckling, Some Goals I Scored, that sort of thing suggests that

gripping stories are thin on the ground.) But Id have agreed with the philosopherDaniel Dennett that we are all virtuoso novelists we try to make all of our materialcohere into a single good story. And that story is our autobiography.

Could you have a meaningful life without this sense of continuity, this feeling thatyou are the person to whom your childhood happened, and wholl experience yourold age? Surely nobody could think of the scenes of their life childhood summers,rst kisses, bereavements as lacking any connecting thread whatsoever?

But Galen Strawson, another philosopher, says this is exactly how he experiences theworld, and he suspects hes not alone. I have a past, like any human, [and] I have arespectable amount of factual knowledge about it, he concedes in AgainstNarrativity, a 2004 paper highlighted recently by the behavioural scientist JessWhittlestone. Yet Ihave no sense of my life as a narrative with form.

Strawson is not an amnesiac, like Guy Pearce in Memento, constantly forgetting hisexperiences. Its just that these experiences dont feel as if they meaningfully belongto the present-day him. They are barely more connected than last weeks episode ofTrue Detective is to next weeks episode of Gardeners Question Time. The question,What has Galen Strawson made of his life? is, he insists, one in which hescompletely uninterested.

Its tempting to think of such people Episodics, Strawson calls them, as opposed toDiachronics like the rest of us as vaguely morally suspect. Are they truly capableof saving for retirement or keeping their marriage vows? Yet there are downsides tobeing a Diachronic, too. As Whittlestone points out, its constraining: faced with somebig dilemma a junction in your career or love life, say you might be lured intomaking a choice that ts with the story so far, when a radical change could bepreferable. Research also indicates that people with a weaker sense of a self persisting

Does life have a beginning, middle and an end? | Life and style... http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/may/01/tangle...

1 of 2 02/05/2015 22:19
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through time are more generous donors to charity, perhaps because they feel lessurge to hoard cash for their future selves.

And being a Diachronic can get you down. Id say Im too interested in the questionWhat has Oliver Burkeman made of his life? Stressful decisions are usually stressfulonly because Iworry Future Me might regret them. I doubt Ill ever become anEpisodic, but just knowing they exist, and imagining the world through their eyes,adds a lightness to my step. Its much harder to fret about your future, or regret yourpast, when it doesnt really feel as if theyre yours at all.

Oliver Burkeman will be speaking at a Guardian Live event, Buying Happiness, on18 May at Conway Hall, London WC1; membership.theguardian.com for details.

[email protected]

Does life have a beginning, middle and an end? | Life and style... http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/may/01/tangle...

2 of 2 02/05/2015 22:19