PHIL41820 Philosophy of Life Writing

Academic Year 2022/2023

The world seems to be filling up with biographies and autobiographies: by or about athletes, actors, politicians, entrepreneurs, criminals, royalty, even philosophers. In one sense, this is hardly surprising: we all tell biographical stories -- about other people and about ourselves -- in many different contexts. We offer our CVs to employers, who ask for references, and the employers judge us accordingly. We describe ourselves to potential friends or partners and they evaluate us. We wonder about other people's relationships with their families, about their attitude to their work, about the objects of their pride and shame -- and others wonder the same things about us: what have we achieved? What have we become in virtue of or despite such achievements? What are we still trying to achieve, trying to become? The larger philosophical problem here has to do with understanding others and oneself; not only with understanding on a particular occasion ("why did you do that?"); more with understanding someone else (or myself) as a person leading a life.