WHAT SAYEST THOU OF THYSELF? SOME REMARKS ON THE ENTANGLEMENT OF LIFE AND NARRATION AND ITS ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PHILOSOPHICAL CANON

Abstract

When we are asked who we are, we often answer in stories. Let us take a look at an example, namely at the answer given to that very question by John the Baptist as told to us by the John the Evangelist 1 . The Evangelist has the Baptist answer the question posed by the Jewish priests and Levites “Who art thou?” – “Σὺ τíς εἶ;” as follows: I am not the Christ [Ἐγὼ οὐκ εἰμὶ ὁ χριστóς] (John 1:20). The learned men do not understand this cryptic reply. They continue to interrogate John the Baptist: What then? Art thou Elias? (John 1:21) John the Baptist responds: I am not [Οὐκ εἰμί] (John 1:21). And a third question follows: Art thou that prophet? (John 1:21) John responds and, for the third time, only provides a negative confession: “No [Οὔ]” (John 1:21). The inquisitors become impatient: Who art thou? […] What sayest thou of thyself? (John 1:22) “What sayest thou of thyself?” – “τí λέγεις περὶ σεαυτοῦ;” That is a wonderful explication of the initial question “Who art thou?”. Who John the Baptist is, είναι, is what he has to say, λέγειν, about himself. One could argue that at times the same can hold true for us: Who we are is what we have to say about ourselves and, of course, what others have to say about us. We are our stories. We can express who we are by telling – ven, as John does, in a highly condensed way – our story. In fact, it seems we have to express ourselves in stories, it seems to be a specific and rather necessary way of being alive as a human being, in other words, using Odo Marquard’s phrase, “narrare necesse est” – “to narrate is necessary” (Marquard 2003, 56, 60, 64, 71).