Living Storied Lives

Philosophy should help guide our lives. After all, the central question of ethics, one of philosophy’s central fields, is “How ought one to live?” Yet, philosophy’s answers are inadequate, not because they are illegitimate, but because they are incomplete, pressingly so. I believe that by and large philosophy's life-guiding prescriptions are correct—be moral, flourish, pursue goals and desires important to you, make room for pleasure. I also believe that they do not guide well enough, that they fail to reach a heightened yet still-meaningful level of specificity that agents rightly seek. A kaleidoscope of patently feasible yet clearly incompatible lives face any agent concerned to live as she ought, all of them perfectly permissible by the lights of philosophy’s standard norms. So, which ought I to pursue? How ought I to live? This dissertation aims to help alleviate this problem of incompleteness. I argue that, within the basic moral boundaries of respect toward others and prudential boundaries of your own well-being, one ought to live a storied life. By looking at certain aspects of your personal history as the basis of, or material for, an unfolding narrative of growth, redemption, overcoming—in short, of progress—you will find specific enough next steps. Besides providing heightened guidance, this new philosophical prescription will lend your life a higher degree of intelligibility. You will have a life with rich explanatory power, a life of which you can be proud to tell. In sum: while many lives available to you are fine by the lights of morality and prudence, only some bring forward the goodness of your particular past in a meaningful way, and these are worth your attention.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Humanities

Grantor

Rice University

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Adams, Joseph Q

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Sher, George

• ethics
• philosophy
• the good life
• meaning in life
• storytelling
• narrative unity
• pastoral guidance

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1911/95564

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.rice.edu:1911/95564