Book Review: Human Communication as Narration

In perhaps his much than or less important contribution to grandiosityal system and the intentioning of merciful conversation, Walter black cat submits an bill of his news report trope in kind converse as Narration Toward a Philosophy of Reason, quantify and Action. This book essenti on the wholey elaborates on and refines fisher cats previous articles on the register paradigm and aims to present a more complete report of the conjectures root, as well as its principal(prenominal) tenets and relevant applications.Human conversation as Narration begins with an pure(a) examination of the history of tarradiddles and logical system, which includes his financial statement that the logic by which human organism converse should be assessed return to the roots of the original meaning of logos story, apprehension, rationale, conception, discourse, thought (p. 10). He asserts that Plato and Aristotle transformed the word logos into a peculiar(prenominal) term th at applied only to philosophical/ skilful discourse, which launched a historical hegemonic struggle that has lasted for more than 2,000 old age (p. 10). fisher cat explains that the positivist, rational-world paradigm that emphasized nut logic and debate (p. 58) is improved upon with his compute of a more post-modern, ontological foundation where meaning is co-created through less statuesque structures like stories. In resurrecting the original meaning of logos, origination his possibleness in ontology, and classifying human beings as humankind narrans (p. xi) , or storytelling animals, Fisher rejects the notion that technical logic is the only path to truth and cognition, and argues that, as the ancients believed, all human communication is rational and contains truth and knowledge (p. 0). This more inclusive chronicle of human communication together with the view that all human communication needs to be seen as stories sets the foundation for Fishers theory of tarradiddle s. In presenting the main points of his memoir theory over several(prenominal) chapters, Fisher explains that humans experience and understand life as a series of on-going narratives, and that these stories atomic number 18 symbolic interpretations of aspects of the world that atomic number 18 historically and culturally grounded and shaped by human personality (p. 9). apt(p) that stories are more than just a figure of speech and lead the power to both say and influence, Fisher establishes narrative understanding as a public logic and means for the sound judgment for stories that is convenient by nature to all human beings (p. 47). This assessment is tested against narrative prob exponent (coherence) and fidelity (truthfulness and reliability) (p. 47) in other words, humans come to believe in and act on stories in so such(prenominal) as they relate to and identify with them.Going back to his assertion that human communication doesnt have to endure in perfect structure s of rhetorical arguments, he save explains that all humans possess the ability to reason and can therefore both communicate and meet truth as good reasons (p. 105). Perhaps an point better, more succinct explanation of this comes earlier in the book where Fisher states that the materials of the narrative paradigm are symbols, signs of consubstantiation, and good reasons are the communicative expression of social human race (p. 5). By including both formal logic and a logic of good reasons in the basis for argument, Fishers narrative paradigm contributes to rhetorical theory by expanding the meaning of persuasion just as Burkes theory of identification did. Since the average person isnt trained in formal logic, Fisher believed that the logic of good reasons (i. e. common sense), sits higher up all other persuasive means since it is universal and inherent in all human communication.Fisher goes on to assert that narrative rationality should withal be the foundation on which a co mplete theory of rhetoric needs to be built (p. 194). In this sense, the selection of stories we tell and come to accept is effusive of who we are and what we want others to believe about us. In the final section of his book, Fisher applies his narrative rationality in several real-world case studies including the rhetoric of Ronald Reagan, end of a Salesman, The Great Gatsby and the philosophical discussion in the midst of Socrates and Callicles in Platos Gorgias.These examples provide a steadying demonstration of how narrative rationality can be utilize to assess the coherence, truthfulness and reliability of stories crosswise a wide figure of contexts. In conceptualizing and applying narrative rationality, Fisher contributes an important method for the study of narratives in a variety of communication contexts, which is one of the most important contributions he makes to the study of communication. Through Human colloquy as Narration, Fisher provided a more accessible, uni versal means for communicating and understanding human truth.Drawing inspiration from the works of Kenneth Burke, Alasdair MacIntyre, Stephen Toulmin and Chaim Perelman, Fishers narrative paradigm argues that formal logic and the positivist view are inadequately prepared to narration for the motives and value in human communication. He offers a broader explanation that all forms of human communication are compulsive by and evolve from our inherent need to get word whether an figureing of new knowledge matches up with what we already know.In the 30 years since Human Communication as Narration was first published, scholars and professionals from a wide range of disciplines have applied Fishers narrative paradigm in a variety of contexts. register methods for rhetorical synopsis and criticism have been use of goods and servicesd by Barbara Sharf (1990), Hollihan and Riley (1987), and Michael Cornfield (1992), among many others. In 1993, David Mains argued that the succession wa s ripe for a move toward narrative sociology, which take a firm stand that sociologys phenomena is made up precisely of stories (p. 2) as well as that sociologists are mainly narrators. The use of narratives as a means for persuasion in advertising and public transaction has been widely documented in recent years by Cinzia Bianchi (2011) Barbara Stern, Craig Thompson and Eric Arnould (1998) and Melanie commonalty (2006). The narrative paradigm has also been deployed in social communication and organisational communication (Ashcraft & Pacanowsky, 1996). And a magnanimous body of look for has been dedicated to the study of narratives as a strategy in affair issue as well (Gergen & Gergen, 2006 Sandole et al. 2009). These are just a few of the ways in which Fishers narrative paradigm still contributes to the understanding of human communication today. simply eyepatch the narrative paradigm has enjoyed a renaissance of late with new research that refines and extends the theor y (Currie, 2005 Kirkwood, 1992 McClure, 2009 Stroud, 2002), largely due to its growing multi-disciplinary matter to as noted above, it has also attracted much criticism. But while these scholars recognized its value, they have also demo that it is not as useful for critical analysis as it aimed to be.Stroud (2002) found issue with the lack of account for contradiction in stories when assessing narrative rationality. Kirkwood (1992) felt that Fishers narrative rationality is limiting in that it doesnt allow for the possibilities of new stories to be authentic and acted upon. He goes on to argue that a rhetoric of possibility presented through narratives can better account for how rhetors challenge people with new and unsuspected possibilities of being and action in the world (Kirkwood, 1992, p. 31).McClure (2009) also specifically argued that the narrative paradigm must also account for the inventional possibilities of new narratives, the rhetorical revision of old narratives, and the appeal and acceptance of improbable narrative accounts (p. 191). He also asserts that by expanding the role of Burkes identification, the narrative paradigm can become a more viable theory and method of criticism. While several scholars have both praised and criticized Fishers narrative paradigm, the part of his story that related to narratives origins, philosophical foundation and relevance to human communication rang true for me.In my study of rhetorical theory I, too, have often felt that the structures of formal argument are too constricting and limiting in their ability to interpret all forms of persuasive communication. When using Fishers own narrative rationality to measure the coherence and fidelity of Human Communication as Narration, I find it to be both legitimate and true especially from my viewpoint as a woman living in a post-modern, post-structuralist fellowship who works in the field of public relations where stories are the very fabric of our communication strategies.And while I recognize the validity of the proposed extensions of his theory by Kirkwood (1992), McClure (2009) and Stroud (2002), I feel they also serve as proof points for the generative power of Fishers paradigm in new ways of persuasion about stories. References Ashcraft, K. & Pacanowsky, M. (1996). A womans belabor enemy Reflections on a narrative of organizational life and female identity. ledger of Applied Communication Research, 24, 217-239. Bianchi, C. (2011). Semiotic approaches to advertising texts and strategies memorial, passion, marketing.Semiotica, 183, 243-271. Cornfield, M. (1992). 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