Abstract

While Nietzsche is notorious for seeing philosophy as a mode of autobiographical confession, other philosophers, such as Habermas, see philosophy as a discipline of rigorous argumentation and theory construction that constitutes a form of discourse to be sharply separated from literature and narrative. As with philosophical antinomies, these one-sided positions need to be overcome and we should see philosophy both as a commentary on the times framed by one’s social positionality and life-experiences, and a discursive practice that attempts to produce more general theoretical arguments and knowledge. Yet it is extremely difficult, I have found, to reflect on how one’s life and times have influenced one’s own theoretical work and I fear that the following reflections are more of a narrative construct than “scientific” commentary. Yet since such binary oppositions are ripe for deconstruction, I will gamely attempt to describe my philosophical adventures and speculate on what might have influenced my theoretical and political itinerary.