Auto/Biographical Work as Bildung.

Abstract

Bildung is a concept central to auto/biography. It can best be translated as ‘educative self-formation’ and describes the importance of the life-narrative as a vehicle for self-discovery, self-understanding and self-development. Although, since its emergence in the German Enlightenment, the concept has received wide attention in the social philosophy literature it has not had extensive consideration in contemporary auto/biographical work. In this article I wish to i) introduce the concept of Bildung; ii) apply the concept to historical figures from my own doctoral research; iii) reflect upon my own educative self-formation as a result of exploring Bildung and offer some discussion of the relationship between studying the life stories of others and one’s own development.