I have an inner voice. Not necessarily critical, just observing, chatting away back there, thinking things through and letting me know. I find it fascinating that not everyone has it, and to imagine life without it. Thanks for the insights.
A great topic! A few months ago it came up in a small discussion group I belong to. Someone raised the issue of the personal narrative we tell ourselves - a connected but not exactly the same issue. He cited philosopher Galen Strawson’s ‘Against Narrativity’. I’m sure you’ll find copies online that aren’t behind a paywall. Here’s the abstract:
‘I argue against two popular claims. The first is a descriptive, empirical thesis about the nature of ordinary human experience: ‘each of us constructs and lives a “narrative” . . . this narrative is us, our identities’ (Oliver Sacks); ‘self is a perpetually rewritten story . . . in the end, we become the autobiographical narratives by which we “tell about” our lives’ (Jerry Bruner); ‘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. The chief fictional character . . . of that autobiography is one’s self’ (Dan Dennett). The second is a normative, ethical claim: we ought to live our lives narratively, or as a story; a ‘basic condition of making sense of ourselves is that we grasp our lives in a narrative’ and have an understanding of our lives ‘as an unfolding story’ (Charles Taylor). A person ‘creates his identity [only] by forming an autobiographical narrative – a story of his life’, and must be in possession of a full and ‘explicit narrative [of his life] to develop fully as a person’ (Marya Schechtman).
Anyway it’s time for me to go and give the barbecue its annual deep clean. So I’ll catch up with this later 😊
Thanks Jon - really interesting article - I’d never really thought about this before but now realise that like your friend Mike, I have a constant inner monologue. I also have the hissing on top (tinnitus). Sometimes it’s negative and critical, more often positive and sometimes just observational and acts as my conscience. But it’s always there whirring away and it determines how I feel and behave and I’m constantly trying to knock it into shape - it’s exhausting. I’m always trying to work out how to shut it up so if someone happens to tell you please let me know! 😂
I too have an inner voice, but all it ever says is “Oh for fuck’s sake!”. It gets incrementally louder every day, so that’s all good.
I have an inner voice. Not necessarily critical, just observing, chatting away back there, thinking things through and letting me know. I find it fascinating that not everyone has it, and to imagine life without it. Thanks for the insights.
A great topic! A few months ago it came up in a small discussion group I belong to. Someone raised the issue of the personal narrative we tell ourselves - a connected but not exactly the same issue. He cited philosopher Galen Strawson’s ‘Against Narrativity’. I’m sure you’ll find copies online that aren’t behind a paywall. Here’s the abstract:
‘I argue against two popular claims. The first is a descriptive, empirical thesis about the nature of ordinary human experience: ‘each of us constructs and lives a “narrative” . . . this narrative is us, our identities’ (Oliver Sacks); ‘self is a perpetually rewritten story . . . in the end, we become the autobiographical narratives by which we “tell about” our lives’ (Jerry Bruner); ‘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. The chief fictional character . . . of that autobiography is one’s self’ (Dan Dennett). The second is a normative, ethical claim: we ought to live our lives narratively, or as a story; a ‘basic condition of making sense of ourselves is that we grasp our lives in a narrative’ and have an understanding of our lives ‘as an unfolding story’ (Charles Taylor). A person ‘creates his identity [only] by forming an autobiographical narrative – a story of his life’, and must be in possession of a full and ‘explicit narrative [of his life] to develop fully as a person’ (Marya Schechtman).
Anyway it’s time for me to go and give the barbecue its annual deep clean. So I’ll catch up with this later 😊
Thanks Jon - really interesting article - I’d never really thought about this before but now realise that like your friend Mike, I have a constant inner monologue. I also have the hissing on top (tinnitus). Sometimes it’s negative and critical, more often positive and sometimes just observational and acts as my conscience. But it’s always there whirring away and it determines how I feel and behave and I’m constantly trying to knock it into shape - it’s exhausting. I’m always trying to work out how to shut it up so if someone happens to tell you please let me know! 😂