Below is the audio recording of Marya Schechtman’s presidential address, “Who Am I and How Did I Get Here?” given at the 2024 Central Division Meeting. The full text is available on the APA website (member sign-in is required).
The audio of the lecture is available here:
“Who Am I and How Did I Get Here?” by Marya Schechtman
Marya Schechtman is an LAS Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, as well as a member of the Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience at the University of Chicago. She received her PhD in philosophy from Harvard in 1988. Her books include The Constitution of Selves (Cornell University Press, 1996), Staying Alive: Personal Identity, Practical Concerns, and the Unity of a Life (Oxford University Press, 2014), and The Self: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2024). She has also published many articles, including “Personhood and Personal Identity” (1990), “Stories, Lives, and Basic Survival: A Defense and Refinement of the Narrative View” (2007), “The Story of My (Second) Life: Narrative and Personal Identity Online” (2012), “Philosophical Reflections on Narrative and Deep Brain Stimulation” (2010), and “Loving Eyes of my Own: Love, Particularity and Necessity” (2017). She was president of the APA Central Division in 2023–2024 and is currently serving as the chair of the APA board of officers (2026–2029).
About this series: The Blog of the APA is pleased to publish the Presidential Addresses and John Dewey Lectures given at the Eastern, Central, and Pacific APA Division Meetings, which communicate the ideas and experiences that the renowned philosophers who delivered them felt are most important for people in the field to know. The Blog wishes to thank the APA leadership and Jeremy Cushing for their support and assistance in making these recordings available.
