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Narrative Paradigm of Walter Fisher

by Leila Lefloor

Paradigm Shift

Critique

  • Logos once was based on all forms of communication
  • With the scientific revolution philosophy was thought of lesser
  • Knowledge has become focused on the physical world
  • Fisher calls this mindset the rational-world paradigm
  • He believes this way of thinking is limited
  • Demands for a shift to his narrative paradigm

Rational-world vs. Narrative Paradigm

  • People argue that Fisher is too optimistic
  • Good stories cannot go beyond what people already know
  • The logic of good reasons denies the "rhetoric of possibility", removing possibility of change
  • Removes some need for people with specialties like rhetoricians

Five Assumptions

Narrative paradigm:

  • people are essentially storytellers
  • we make decisions on the basis of good reason, which vary depending on the communication situation, media, and genre
  • history, biography, culture, and character determine what we consider good reasons
  • narrative rationality is determined by the coherence and fidelity of our stories
  • the world is a set of stories from which we choose, and thus constantly re-create, our lives

Rational-world paradigm:

  • people are essentially rational
  • we make decisions on the basis of arguments
  • the type of speaking situation determines the course of our argument
  • rationality is determined by how much we know and how well we argue
  • the world is a set of logical puzzles
  • Rational-world paradigm is a scientific or philosophical approach to knowledge based on logic
  • Narrative paradigm is a theoretical framework that views narrative as the basis of all human communication

Key Terms

The Logic of Good Reason

We are concerned with five value-related issues: values within the message, the relevance of said values, the consequences of adhering to the values, the overlap of the worldview, conformity with what the audience members believe

  • Narration is "symbolic actions-words and or/deeds-that have meaning for those who live, create, or interpret them
  • Paradigm is a conceptual framework, it insists people to view events through a "common interpretive lens"
  • Narrative rationality is the way we evaluate the worth of stories
  • Narrative coherence is consistency of the "characters"
  • Narrative fidelity is is the quality of values in the message of the story

The Beginning

Walter Fisher

  • Fisher was fixated with the belief that anything that deals with reason is best viewed through stories
  • The essence of human nature according to Fisher
  • People “experience and comprehend life as a series of ongoing narratives, as conflicts, characters, beginnings, middles, and ends”
  • All forms of communication focusing on beliefs, attitudes, and actions need to be told through stories
  • The term Narrative Paradigm is meant to show that no communication of ideas is purely descriptive or didactic
  • 1931-2018
  • Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Iowa (1960)
  • Awarded Golden Anniversary Monograph Award from the Speech Communication Association (1979)
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