Homo loquens: values in the structure of narrative identity

Abstract

The relationship between narrative identity and values is considered. It is argued that the problem of the relationship and balance between the experience of experiencing: values, a multidirectional spectrum of desires, emotions and actions, is inseparable from the issue of self-determination of the subject. The presented analysis is based on the concept of the dynamics of narrative changes by Ch.M. Taylor "the best possible articulation of experience" (Best Account) and the concept of M.M. Bakhtin. Building a narrative identity is impossible without reference to values that serve as the foundations of intentional states, orientations and motives that determine behavior. The necessity of values for our self-description reveals their reality. Reflection is a necessary condition for the ontologization of values, defining the difference between "values" and "norms", "desires" and "preferences". In the structure of narrative identity, value is not any desire or preference, but only one that needs justification (rational articulation). The empirical consequence of rational articulation is the formation of a common narrative or the formation of a common language that facilitates the justification of values, which is a condition for the emergence of solidarity. The hermeneutic circle is considered as a model for the formation and transformation of narrative identity. The presented model describes the interaction between the subject's articulations and his pre-reflexive experience of the emotional experience of values, correlating these elements with the existing spectrum of axiological interpretations. The hermeneutic circle reveals the possibility of coordinating in the subject different levels of existence of values, from the point of view of overcoming the contradictions between the individual and the collective: desires, emotions, values and actions. It is concluded that values are embedded in the structure of narrative identity in several ways: they form the content of the narrative, reinforce ideas about ideals through narrative, and form intentions.