Identity Crisis and Narrative Self Theory

Since Wittgenstein, the " identity crisis” not only perplexed metaphysics, but also became a barrier that could not be bypassed in the study of self and personal identity. The narrative self theory makes use of the achievements of narrative studies in the second half of the last century, complies with the trend of narrative generalization or " expansion” at that time, takes narrative as the paradigm to explain all phenomena, including self and personal identity, and creatively demonstrates the new insight that self and its identity are rooted in narrative. This new theory of self not only strongly promotes the understanding of self and its relation with mind and body, but also feeds narrative research, which becomes an important driving force for the latter to develop forward. In order to resolve the identity crisis, we must have a dialectical perspective and truly realize that identity itself is a unity of difference and identity, variability and stability, discontinuity and continuity. In order to reveal the secret of self and personal identity, we must realize that self-identity is something closely related to the fact of " being alive” or survival. What determines whether a person is alive is the unchanging continuation of being alive, and being alive is not only the continuation of mind and body, but also the extension of self-identity.