History, Narrative, and Life-Span Developmental Knowledge

The problem of finding continuity across the life course can be tied in part to a theoretical perspective which looks essentially forward in time. It can, however, be significantly minimized within a framework that is more genuinely historical, one that looks back over the flow of events in an attempt to understand and explain their possible connections. That this involves a necessary immersion of the researcher in the researched precludes the possibility of establishing any final objectivity, but need not detract from the validity of the knowledge which can derive from intersubjective consensus. It is through a dialectically informed narration that a new conceptualization of development, founded upon the approximation toward self-constructed ends, can emerge. The reading of this development will necessitate critical reflection as to what its optimal forms are and how they might be achieved.