At the age of 19 years old, I have not thought about my life as a story. I think that at my age, it is young to start basing my life and personality off of only a small part of my life. I feel that the events in my life make me who I am, but by describing these events will not allow you to understand the emotions and feeling that were in the results for myself. An example from my life is when my mom had cancer. I found out when I was younger, and this continued on for about two to three years. Throughout this event in my life, I went through some very emotional moments that would not be able to be explain how I felt unless the person reading my life story was actually in my position. I think this is a very interesting essay, but I don’t think Galen fully puts their reasoning on why they do not agree with narrative. They say they are not anti-narrative, but after each example of narrative, Galen says they don’t believe that this is true. Galen says, “I think its false- false that everyone stories themselves, and false that it is always a good thing”, which I do believe is true because it is much more than stories that can identify your real-life story. I believe that you are truly the only person that knows your real-life story. There are many times that I agree with things that Galen says, but there are also very many idea that I do not agree with.
I like how you mentioned your age. I did the same thing in my blog as well. I think at our age we have so much to figure out and try to understand and grow accustomed to that we don’t have much time to think about who we are and determine our identity. I think that your next point was also important. We form our identity throughout our entire life. With every action, we are tweaking our identity slightly. I also agree with your last statement. Galen mentioned some things that I was on board with, but others were opposing my views or confused me.
I agree with your statement in saying, “I went through some very emotional moments that would not be able to be explain how I felt unless the person reading my life story was actually in my position.” I dont think anyone will be able to fully understand someone else’s position because that is not us that is you. I could say that I was sorry and feel that sadness that something this tragic happened to you, but I would never be able to know what you went through and how you felt about it. I could only imagine what that feels like. I think you make a very strong argument and I agree with your blog and your opinions on Galen.
I appreciate your reflection. I think it can be important to share, or record, or write the stories of our hardships, in particular. I can understand why this would cause you to push back against Strawson. Thank you for sharing!