Narrative paradigm

The narrative paradigm, is a theory proposed by the 20th-century communication scholar Walter Fisher. In the theory all meaningful communication is defined as form of storytelling or reporting of events (see narrative), and that humans are storytellers and listeners of narratives. One assumption in narrative paradigm theory is that people are more persuaded by a good story than by a good argument. Therefore, from a narrative paradigm perspective, human beings experience and comprehend life as a series of ongoing narratives, each with its own conflicts, characters, beginning, middle, and end. Fisher's theory holds that all forms of communication that appeal to people's reason, are best viewed as stories shaped by history, culture, and character.

Fisher calls his approach a paradigm rather than a theory is because he wanted to use a term that would widen the breadth of his vision. According to Fisher a paradigm is considered to be broader than a theory. Fisher states that, "There is no genre, including technical communication, that is not an episode in the story of life". The narrative paradigm is not meant to be considered a representation of practices that are characterized in a specific discipline. Instead it is meant to reflect a set of ideas that are shared by scholars from various disciplines. Fisher presents a paradigm shift, which means a significant change in the way people think about the world and its meanings. The shift from Rational World Paradigm to Narrative Paradigm.

In the rational world paradigm, 'logos' means reason and 'mythos' means story and emotion. The rational world paradigm values logos and relatively neglects mythos. According to Aristotle, some disclosures are superior to others by virtue of their relationship to true knowledge. In this way, he tries to reinforce that the disclosures are not all equal. The traditional paradigm of the rational world is a scientific or philosophical approach to knowledge that assumes that people are logical and make decisions on the basis of evidence and lines of argument. This view claims that:

Fisher reacts against this model as being too limited and suggests a new paradigm of narrative rationality which views narrative as the basis of all human communication. The ways in which people explain and/or justify their behavior, whether past or future, has more to do with telling a credible story than it does with producing evidence or constructing a logical argument. According to Fisher, the narrative paradigm is all-encompassing. Therefore, all communication can be looked at through a narrative lens even though it may not meet the traditional literary requirements of a narrative. He begins with the proposition that:

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