Quem tem medo da ilusão biográfica? Indivíduo, tempo e histórias de vida

Since the “idol of the individual” denunciation by a newly founded sociological science, as well as the disqualification of its cognitive potential under the “biographical illusion”, the critique of biography has always had the effect of perpetuating both an emptied and impoverished notion of narrative, and the temporal dimension constituting the individual identity. The reflections I propose in this article unfold in two moments. First, I return to the well-known argument of disqualification of the credibility of the biographical, which ultimately consisted in attributing an illusory and fictitious status to the identitary constructions implicit in the life histories. Then, I point to a problematization of such interdictions based on the perspectives opened by the notion of narrative identity formulated by Paul Ricoeur, whose crucial gain would be in confronting the individual with the experience of time.

Keywords:
Biography; History; Narrative; Biographical Illusion; Temporality.