p.347 The central point here is that there is no genre, including technical communication, that
is not an episode in the story of life (a part of the "conversation") and is not itself constituted by logos
and mythos (see MacCormac, 1976) Put another way: Technical discourse is imbued with myth and metaphor, and
aesthetic discourse has cognitive capacity and import. The narrative paradigm is designed, in part, to draw attention to these
facts and provide a way of thinking that fully takes them into account.
p.349 The precise way in which the narrative paradigm goes beyond traditional social scientific theories
is in the concept of narrative rationality, which provides principles - probability and fidelity - and considerations
for judging the merits of stories, whether one's own or another's. (This concept will be reviewed later.)
No guarantee exists that one who uses narrative rationality will not adopt "bad" stories, rationalizations,
but it does mitigate this tendency. Its use engenders critical self-awareness and conscious choice.
p.350 Narrative rationality, as I suggested elsewhere (Fisher, 1980), is an attempt
to recapture Aristotle's concept of phronesis, "practical wisdom."
p.350 I hope to give force to the idea that there is a community which sees narrativity as a legitimate
and useful way to interpret and understand human relations.
p.352 Rationality is determined by "whether, if necessary," persons could, "under suitable circumstances,
provide reasons for their expressions" (Habermas, 1984, p. 17).
p.353 Except for Alasdair MacIntyre (1981), analytic and post-analytic philosophers neglect the idea of
narrative.
p.353 MacIntyre is explicit in supporting the narrative view of human decision-making and
action. As reported in the original essay, he holds that the essential genre "for the characterisation of human actions"
(p.194) is "enacted dramatic narrative" (p.200).
p.353 I believe, as indicated by the concept of narrative rationality, that there are rational criteria
for distinguishing the reliability, trustworthiness, and desirability of statements made in the conversation of life.
p.354 Good reasons are an expression of practical wisdom; they are, in their highest expression,
an encompassment of what is relative and objective in situations. They function to resolve exigencies
by locating and activating values that go beyond the moment, making it possible that principles of decision or action can
be generalized.
p.354 Particularly helpful to me in Heidegger's work is his view that "man is a thinking,
that is, a meditating being" (1966, p. 47). The concept was put forth as an antithesis to the idea
that man is, or should be always, a "calculative thinker, a person who 'computes' " - weighs, measures, and counts
- possibilities, benefits, and outcomes but does not "contemplate the meaning which reigns in everything that is"
(p. 46). The operation of narrative rationality presupposes (synthesizes) both notions but lays stress on the meditative as
the foundation.
p.355 the narrative paradigm... advances the idea that good communication is good by virtue
of its satisfying the requirements of narrative rationality, that it offers a reliable, trustworthy, and desirable
guide to belief and action.
p.355 White... contends that "all symbolic systems make and remake reality" (p.293); and
he concludes, in part, that "the world of fiction leads us to the heart of the real world of action" (p.296).
p.357 The narrative paradigm... seeks, like any other theory of human action, to account
for how persons come to believe and to behave... providing a "new" logic, the concept of narrative
rationality, which is applicable to all forms of human communication... to formulate a theory of human communication
that recognizes permanence and change, culture and character, reason and value, and the practical wisdom of all persons.
p.357 While the narrative paradigm as a worldview of human communication does not provide a specific
method of analysis, it does propose a precise perspective for critically regarding text. Regardless of its genre,
a text is viewed as composed of good reasons, elements that give good reasons for believing or acting in accord with
the message fostered by that text... The perspective focuses on the message, the individuated forms that constitute
it, and the reliability, trustworthiness, and desirability of the message as determined by the tests of narrative
rationality. Throughout the interpretation and assessment, values are taken as the principal ingredient of the individuated
forms and the message.
p.359 There is no approach to persuasion that will not fail if an audience refuses to attend to a message.
p.360 Plato's conception of mind (nous) is in regard to "the imaginative vision of truth" ...Myth,
at least Plato's version of it, not only offers support for dialectical argument, it is also a mode of discourse in which
a vision of truth is made manifest.
p.362 The suggestion here is that good stories function in two ways: to justify...
decisions or actions already made or performed and to determine future decisions or actions.
p.364 Conclusion
My purpose has been to advance the narrative paradigm beyond the point reached in my earlier essay
(Fisher, 1984). In this analysis, I hope to have situated it clearly in regard to major social scientific and humanistic theories
and to have demonstrated its usefulness in interpreting and assessing philosophical discourse. I have also proposed
that a significant feature of compelling stories is that they provide a rationale for decision and action. As such, they not
only constrain behavior, they may also determine it.
