This book addresses questions that have concerned rhetoricians, literary theorists, and philosophers since the time of the pre-Socratics and the Sophists: How do people come to believe and to act on the basis of communicative experiences? What is the nature of reason and rationality in these experiences? What is the role of values in human decision making and action? How can reason and values be assessed? In answering these questions, Professor Fisher proposes a reconceptualization of humankind as homo narrans, that all forms of human communication need to be seen as stories—symbolic interpretations of aspects of the world occurring in time and shaped by history, culture, and character; that individuated forms of discourse should be considered "good reasons"—values or value-laden warrants for believing or acting in certain ways; and that a narrative logic that all humans have natural capacities to employ ought to be conceived of as the logic by which human communication is assessed.
- Cover
- HUMAN COMMUNICATION AS NARRATION
- Title
- Copyright
- Dedication
- CONTENTS
- Foreword
- Afterword
- Preface
- Part I The Historical Exigence
- 1. In the Beginning
- From Philosophy to Technical Discourse
- Voices on Behalf of Poetic
- Voices on Behalf of Rhetoric
- Conclusion
- 2. The Connection with Logic
- Dialogue, Dialectic, and Logic
- Aristotle: The Beginnings of Technical and Rhetorical Logic
- Technical Logic: Handmaiden of Learned Discourse
- Rhetorical Logic: Handmaiden of Public Discourse
- From Geometry and Mathematics to Language and Jurisprudence
- Narrative Rationality as a Rhetorical Logic
- Conclusion
- Part II The Narrative Paradigm and Related Theories
- 3. Narration as a Paradigm of Human Communication
- The Rational-World Paradigm
- The Narrative Paradigm
- A Case: Public Moral Argument
- Conclusion
- 4. An Elaboration
- Relationships to Other Theories
- Social-Scientific Theories and the Narrative Paradigm
- Humanistic Theories and the Narrative Paradigm
- Conclusion
- Part III Narrative Rationality, Good Reasons, and Audiences
- 5. Assessing Narrative Fidelity: The Logic of Good Reasons
- The Meaning of "Logic"
- Good Reasons
- The Logic of Good Reasons
- Criterial Analysis
- Hierarchies of Values
- Rationality and Rhetorical Competence
- Conclusion
- 6. Narrative Rationality and Qualities of Audiences
- Philosophical, Political, and Personal Characteristics of Audiences
- Justice: The Motivational Characteristic
- Critical Rationalism: The Competence Characteristic
- Concepts of Audiences Reconsidered
- Conclusion
- Part IV Applications
- 7. Narrativity and Politics: The Case of Ronald Reagan
- Reagan's Rhetoric
- Reagan's Story
- Reagan's Character
- Reagan's Implied Audience
- Conclusion
- 8. Argument in Drama and Literature
- Rhetoric, Poetic, and Aesthetic Proof
- Argument in Death of a Salesman
- Argument in The Great Gatsby
- Conclusion
- 9. Choosing between Socrates and Callicles: An Assessment of Philosophical Discourse
- Socrates' Story
- Callicles' Story
- Choosing between Socrates and Callicles
- Conclusion
- 10. In Retrospect
- Author Index
- Subject Index
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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