Two voices. Life stories and their scientific retellings

Abstract

In this text on the link between social philosophy and the methodology of narrative storytelling, I first raise the question of an important aspect of any such research: the ethics of the retelling of narrative life stories, which is encountered in the presentation of research results and in the formulation of scientific conclusions. The article does not deal with the legal aspects of research ethics, but with the epistemological assumptions of the research methodology, in particular highlighting two very important ones: the problem of recognition and acknowledgement oriented towards the normative context (which, according to the classic Hegelian concept, has been developed by A. Honneth and J. Butler) and the participation of the narrative unconscious sphere in the action of narration (just as much as scientific retelling). The analysis of the narrative unconscious sphere is based on the texts by L. Althusser, F. Jameson, M. Freeman and H. Meretoya. The paper argues that the ethical retelling of another person’s life story can only be ethically carried out through a deep analysis that separates the normative contexts of the narrator and the reteller (the researcher), the elements belonging to the narrative sphere of the unconscious, and thus makes us aware of the two distinct voices that are involved in the retelling: the narrator and the researcher. If such an analysis has not been carried out, then the reteller unintentionally arranges the emphases of his/her interpretation in such a way that it will be his/her own voice and position rather than that of the person who narrated his/her life.