★★★★★ 5
A must-read for anyone interested in communication studies, rhetoric, American public debates
Format: Paperback
In this seminal book, Fisher expounds his "narrative paradigm," a sweeping theory of human communication and more. Professor Emeritus at USC's Annenberg School of Communication, Fisher's discipline was rhetoric. But the book's subtitle -- "Toward a Philosophy of Reason, Value, and Action" -- isn't a stretch. Fisher's theory is a grand project extending its purview way beyond the communication department's door. At root is Fisher's rejection of what he calls the "rational world paradigm," which falsely separates logos from mythos, reason from imagination, fact from value. Doesn't work that way, Fisher says. No such thing as a value-free belief, assertion, or action. Instead, we evaluate according to a "logic of good reasons" -- reasons we value as good -- rooted in the narratives of our experience.
An under-appreciated aspect of Fisher's work is the application of his theory to American politics. America's most enduring narrative is The American Dream. But that dream comprises two sub-narrative strands: the "materialistic myth" and the "moralistic myth." These two strands broadly represent conservative and progressive impulses respectively, but those threadbare categories don't do Fisher's explication justice. The two myths find their roots in the narratives of the earliest Americans, and have been battling it out ever since. It's a credible understanding of the history of American public moral debates.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2010
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