ON "NARRATIVES"

Over the past several years, I have become increasingly aware of the power of "narratives" -- of stories -- in our lives. From early childhood, our grasp of cause-and-effect relationships in the world (including justice relationships in the social world) become tied intimately to stories.

We begin to form a basic "Core Narrative" about life and the world when we are very young -- far too young to think critically and abstractly, in scientific, philosophical, and theoretical terms. In fact, most of us later tend to gravitate toward specific formal theories because they confirm and manifest the interpretive stories that already have become the filters of our fundamental worldview.

Here, I am linking to various essays and commentaries I have written on this important topic, starting with the most basic ones.


"The Narratives That Guide Our Lives"

"From Emotions, to Narratives, to Ideologies"

"Thoughts About Stories, Myths, Narratives...and Ourselves"

Review of The Storytelling Animal

"The Rise of the 'Charlie Kirk Conservatives'"

"A Meditation on the Progressive Narrative"

"Election 2012 and the Clash of Narratives"

"The Republican Crackup -- and the Path Forward"

"The Republican Crackup, Revisited"

"The Narcissist and the Narrative"