The Role of Time in the Theory of Narrative Identity in the Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur

Michał Kumorek

doi:10.22363/2313-2302-2021-25-3-483-494

Abstract

Time has a very important function in considering the identity of a person. It is the factor that brings identity into question. The core of the problem is the question of whether the person is the same as he or she was at another time. The problem of personal identity was one of the most important issues in Paul Ricoeurs philosophy. He considers this problem in the context of time and notes that traditional models of identity as sameness and as selfhood have been entangled in various aporias. He, therefore, proposes two new models of identity that are related in different ways to temporality: character and promise. Character is a model that changes over time through the acquisition or loss of various traits. The promise, on the other hand, is a model that resists the pressure of time attempts to keep a given word. In this way, these two different models create the framework for Ricoeur's concept of narrative identity. In this concept, time enables the development of action in a story. It allows the action to turn around, but it also allows the human being to look at the story of his or her life. Character and promise are models that allow the human being to look at his or her life as a certain temporal entity that is constantly threatened by unforeseen accidents and events but also constantly absorbs them and, through to time, gives the possibility of retrospection leading to synthesis. This synthesis allows us to look at a single life as a whole, belonging to the same person endowed with the character and challenge of keeping a promise.

Highlights

The problem of a person's identity was solved by ancient and medieval philosophy based on the category of substance, which in the strong premise of the immortal soul was the core of human identity
The issue of time is important to Ricoeur at all stages of his consideration of narrative identity
The idea of narrative identity has its source in reflections on the existence of time

Summary

Introduction

The problem of a person's identity was solved by ancient and medieval philosophy based on the category of substance, which in the strong premise of the immortal soul was the core of human identity. Keeping one's word as the model of identity is part of being selfhood, the dimension of "who?" Ricoeur makes a distinction between the continuity of changes in character traits over time and the challenge of not changing the promise. Time brings the moment when we can look at our life from a different perspective and with a new understanding This le-lecture has a constitutive dimension for the identity of the person but of the whole community, which builds its identity based on a constant reading of history [16. Ricoeur notes that the theory of narrative identity is close to the ethical theory in the model of promise He refers to Emmanuel Lévinas, who links the preservation of self to the response of another person [22.

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Conclusion