I find it very hard to think that he isn't at least in those times being just like us. The fact that he has it toned down as much as he has might suggest that he experiences his life that way more than most people, you know? Yeah. He definitely does say that this is a spectrum and you could fall anywhere on this line. And so you might everything from just like misremembering to just like sort of actively refusing in a conscious way to admit that you did something that is in some way bad because you have this positive view of yourself. I mean, talk about something that would be hard to measure. But let's just get some stickers.
Do you think of your life as a story? Does your life have a narrative structure or form? Do you identify with your past selves and your future selves? If not, can you live a good life, a moral life, an authentic life? Can you feel guilt, regret, and resentment? Plus, speaking of stories, we talk about a new study suggesting that books with anthropomorphic animals can't teach moral lessons to kids.
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Links:
- Larsen, N. E., Lee, K., & Ganea, P. A. (2017). Do storybooks with anthropomorphized animal characters promote prosocial behaviors in young children?. Developmental Science.
- Children's books with humans have greater moral impact than animals, study finds | Books | The Guardian
- Strawson, G. (2004). Against narrativity. Ratio, 17(4), 428-452.
- Strawson, G. (2007). Episodic ethics. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements, 60, 85-115.
- Parfit, D. (1995). The unimportance of identity.
- I am Not a Story