This lecture uses an autobiographical framework to describe and explain a shift from Marxist realism to a Wittgensteinian humanism, and a parallel shift from self-identification as a 'social scientist' to a radical scepticism about the whole project of studying human life 'scientifically'. However, as well as using autobiography as a form to explore intellectual change, the lecture also reflects on autobiography itself - both its limitations, and its consistency with a commitment to humanism.