BY WALTER FISHER1984

Narrative Paradigm

Presentation by Dana McGrath

James Donachie

Human Nature of Narrative Paradigm

People are storytellers who understand and interpret life experiences as ongoing narratives with many conflicts, characters, beginnings, middles and ends – all forms of human communication that appeal to our reason can be regarded as stories.

Forrest Gump comparison

Note: Exception includes phatic communication – communication aimed at maintaining relationships rather than passing information or saying something new.

Rhetoric Good Reasons

Rhetoric is a matter of evidence, facts, arguments, reason and logic.

People can better relate to a compelling story rather than piled up evidence or a tight argument.

Narratives that coincide with our good reason (values) will be persuasive.

Narratives that go against our good reason, even if they are sound arguments, will not be persuasive.

Historical Views vs. Fisher’s View

Root Terms

Narration: Symbolic action – words and/or deeds – that have sequence and meaning for those who live, create, or interpret them. Communication rooted in time & space; Covers every aspect of

our lives & the lives of others in regard to character, motive, and action; Verbal and nonverbal to act in a certain way; Abstract messages embedded in speaker’s ongoing story.

Paradigm: A conceptual framework; a universal model that calls for people to view events through a common interpretive lens Thomas Kuhn’s argument: Paradigm is the mark of a mature

science – 1970’s comm scientists challenge this idea and sought to create a universal model for communication behavior

Rational-world vs. Narrative Paradigm

Rational-world paradigm: A scientific or philosophical approach to knowledge that assumes people are logical, making decisions on the basis of evidence and lines of argument.

Narrative paradigm: A theoretical framework that views narrative as the basis of all human communication.

Rational-World Paradigm

Narrative Paradigm

1. People are essentially rational.

2. We make decisions on the basis of arguments.

3. The type of speaking situation (legal, scientific, legislative) determines the course of our argument.

1. People are essentially storytellers.

2. We make decisions on the basis of good reasons, which vary depending on the communication situation, media, and genre (philosophical, technical, rhetorical, or artistic.)

3. History, biography, culture, and character determine what we consider good reasons.

Comparison of Five Assumptions

Rational-World Paradigm

Narrative Paradigm

4.Rationality is determined by how much we know and how well we argue.

5. The world is a set of logical puzzles that we can solve through rational analysis. (Discovery)

4. Narrative rationality is determined by the coherence and fidelity of our stories.

5. The world is a set of stories from which we choose, and thus constantly re-create, our lives. (Decisions)

Comparison of Five Assumptions cont…

Narrative Rationality: Coherence & Fidelity

Narrative Rationality: A way to evaluate the worth of stories based on the twin standards of narrative coherence and narrative fidelity

Together, coherence and fidelity are the measures of a story’s truthfulness and humanity.

Narrative Coherence

Internal consistency with characters acting in a reliable fashion; the story hangs together

The story is one piece It must make sense to the hearer No jumping back and forth between conflicting ideas

Narrative Fidelity

Congruence between values embedded in a message and what listeners regard as truthful and humane; the story strikes a responsive chord.

How the story relates to the external world – follows through with the background of the hearer’s familiar world

A story has fidelity when it provides good reasons to guide our future actions

Narrative Fidelity cont…

People tend to prefer accounts that fit with what they view as truthful and humane.

The Logic of Good Reasons – Five value-related issues:

The values embedded in the message The relevance of those values to decisions made The consequence of adhering to those values The overlap with the worldview of the audience Conformity with what the audience members believe is

“an ideal basis of conduct”

An Ideal Audience

An actual community existing over time that believes in the values of truth, the good, beauty, health , wisdom, courage, temperance, justice, harmony, order, communion, friendship, and oneness with the Cosmos.

The humane virtues of the ideal audience shape our logic of good reasons – the character we should be.

A good story is a powerful means of persuasion.

Critique

According to Fisher: People with ordinary common sense are competent

rhetorical critics. The very fact that the narrative paradigm can be

applied to a wide range of communication genres provides strong evidence of its validity.

Other’s Point of View: Fisher is too optimistic when saying people have a

natural tendency to prefer the true and just. Warnick’s Mein Kampf example: great communicative

power of evil or wrongheaded stories.

Narrative Paradigm Analysis

Humanistic All people construct their own ideas of what falls

under narrative coherence and fidelity and they decide on their own accounts if the story is persuasive or credible.

Grand Theory Applies to all communication genres for all people

when passing information or saying something new.