Individual Memory and Autobiographical Narrative

Abstract

The article substantiates the cognitive effectiveness of using the narrative ap­proach in various fields of socio-humanitarian knowledge, and, in particular, an attempt is made to assess the epistemological perspectives of the interpreta­tion of the phenomenon of autobiography as an autobiographical narrative in the context of studies of individual and collective memory. The author notes that in recent decades, research interest in language and text as key areas of the hu­manities has sharply increased. At the same time, the epistemological signifi­cance of turning to the autobiographical narrative in the field of interdisciplinary problems (both in humanitarian and natural science) plays a significant stimulat­ing role in the growth of this interest. The article suggests that the marked expan­sion of the thematic field of social and humanitarian research involves turning to autobiographical narratives as specific materials for working with the phenome­non of memory in its individual and collective aspects. Such an appeal allows us to connect to the consideration of these aspects the ratio of modern scientific and philosophical directions (epistemological, cognitive, neuropsychological, phy­siological, etc.). The author believes that the autobiographical narrative acts as a unifying material for researchers working with the phenomenon of individual memory since it at the same time connects it with the collective memory through memories and cultural-historical contexts transmitted in the narrative. In the arti­cle, this thesis is demonstrated on the material of the autobiographical narrative of the Russian philosopher of culture V.V. Weidle