Rhetorical Critique
Narrative Criticism
&
Dramatism
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Narrative Critique
• “Humans are the Storytelling animal.”
– Alasdair MacIntyre
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Short stories, Comics, Novels, Films
Poetry & Songs
Conversations, Interviews, Speeches
Even Paintings and Quilts
Walter Fisher and the Narrative Paradigm
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Biography:
• Emeritus Professor
at USC Annenberg
• Fisher earned his doctorate
in communication studies
at the University of Iowa.
• He specializes in rhetorical
theory and criticism,
political communication,
and argumentation,
addressing in particular
problems in reason and
ethics.
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Fisher on the Narrative Paradigm
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Fisher, Walter R. (1984). "Narration as Human Communication Paradigm: The Case of
Public Moral Argument." in Communication Monographs 51. pp. 1-22.
Fisher, Walter R. (1985). "The Narrative Paradigm: An Elaboration." in Communication
Monographs 52. December. pp. 347-367.
Fisher, Walter R. (1985). "The Narrative Paradigm: In the Beginning." in Journal of
Communication 35.Autumn. pp. 74-89.
Fisher, Walter R. (1987). Human Communication as Narration: Toward a Philosophy of
Reason, Value, and Action. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.
Fisher, Walter R. (1988). "The Narrative Paradigm and the Assessment of Historical Texts."
in Argumentation and Advocacy 25.Fall. pp. 49-53.
Fisher, Walter R. (1989). "Clarifying the Narrative Paradigm." in Communication
Monographs 56. pp. 55-58.
Fisher, Walter R. (1994). "Narrative Rationality and the Logic of Scientific Discourse." in
Argumentation 8. pp. 21-32.
Fisher, Walter R. (1995). "Narration, Knowledge, and the Possibility of Wisdom" in
Rethinking Knowledge: Reflections Across the Disciplines (Suny Series in the Philosophy
of the Social Sciences). (Fisher & Robert F. Goodman as editors). New York: State
University of New York Press.
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4 Characteristics of Narrative
1. Comprised of at least 2 active or stative
events
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“stative” expressing a state or condition
2. Events organized in time order—
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chronology
3. Causal or Contributing relationship
between events
4. Must be about a unified subject
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Traditional paradigm of
rationality vs. Fisher’s 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 that we can solve
through rational analysis
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• People are essentially
storytellers
• We make decisions on the
basis of good reasons
• 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
Narrative Analysis of an Artifact
What is the Setting or Scene?
Who are the main Characters?
Who is the Narrator? Direct presentation?
What are the major and minor Events?
What are the Temporal Relations among the
events?
6. What Cause-&-Effect Relationships?
7. Who is the Audience of the narrative?
8. What are the major Themes?
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• Formulate a research question.
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"All the world's a stage"
Dramatism
Kenneth Burke (1897-1993)
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Identification
• The Basic Principle of rhetoric
• The use of symbols to create drama where
communicator and audience identify with
each other
• Audience and communicator become
“consubstantial”
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Key Concepts
• Substance: the essential characteristics of a
person as seen by self and others
• Consubstantiality: shared substance
• Identification Division: consubstantiality
always divides as well as unifying people
• God terms & Devil terms: symbols
connoting good or evil association with
substance
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The Elements of Symbolic Drama
• Motive and Burke’s Pentad
– Act, Scene, Agent, Agency, and Purpose
• The Guilt-Redemption Cycle
– Arousal of guilt
– Purification by:
• Mortification (self sacrifice)
• Victimage (scapegoating someone or something else)
– Redemption
• Tragedy and the Comic Corrective
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Logging Old Growth Forests
Logger Rhetoric
Environmental
Rhetoric
ACT
Harvesting Lumber
Destroying Forests
SCENE
Market for Lumber
Ecological Crisis
AGENT
Responsible Business
Greedy Capitalist
AGENCY Scientific Techniques
Reckless, wasteful
methods
PURPOSE Jobs, wise resource use Profit and exploitation
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Table by Prof. Bob Craig, U of CO @ Boulder
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Illustration from Prof. Bob Craig, U of CO @ Boulder
Pendatic Analysis
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Identify the ACT
Where or what is the situation?-SCENE
Who is the main character?-AGENT
How is the act accomplished?-AGENCY
What is intended by performing the act?PURPOSE
Apply ratios to determine dominant term:
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20 possible “Pendatic Ratios”
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Scene - Act: no
Scene - Agent: yes
Scene - Agency: no
Scene - Purpose: yes
Act - Scene: no
Act - Agent : no
Act - Agency : no
Act - Purpose : no
Agent – Scene: yes
Agent – Act: yes
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Agent – Agency: yes
Agent – Purpose: no
Agency – Act: unclear
Agency – Scene: no
Agency – Agent : yes
Agency – Purpose: unclear
Purpose – Act: no
Purpose – Scene: yes
Purpose – Agent : no
Purpose – Agency: unclear
The Dominant Term
The Philosophy of Dominance
• Act – Realism not Nominalism
– Universal principles more real than objects
• Scene – Materialism
– Reality explained by matter, motion, physical law
• Agent – Idealism
– Views mind and spirit as fundamentally real
• Agency – Pragmatism
• Purpose - Mysticism
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After Analysis
• Formulate a Research Question
– Narrative
• Open ended
– How does construction effect interpretation?
– What does story say about culture? Etc.
– Dramatism
• Worldview?
• Motives?
• Ratios?
• Write an Essay
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