Exam 20: The Narrative Paradigm

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Fidelity, in the context of narrative rationality, refers to the credibility or believability of a story and how well it resonates with the listener's experiences and understanding of the world. Narrative rationality is a concept developed by communication theorist Walter Fisher, who proposed that all meaningful communication is a form of storytelling or narration and that humans are essentially storytellers.

Fisher introduced the narrative paradigm as an alternative to the traditional rational-world paradigm, which emphasizes argumentative reasoning and logical analysis. According to Fisher, the narrative paradigm suggests that people make sense of the world and the experiences within it by relating them to stories and that they judge the reliability and trustworthiness of these narratives based on two criteria: coherence and fidelity.

Coherence refers to the internal consistency of the story—how well the elements of the narrative fit together. Fidelity, on the other hand, is concerned with the truthfulness and reliability of the narrative. It is about whether the story corresponds to the reality the listeners know or believe to be true, and whether it provides a reliable guide to human conduct.

To assess narrative fidelity, one might consider the following factors:

1. **Factuality**: Does the narrative align with known facts and evidence? Are the events portrayed in the story consistent with the listener's understanding of how the world works?

2. **Context**: Does the story make sense within the context it is presented? Does it acknowledge the complexity of the real world and the nuances of human experience?

3. **Values**: Does the narrative reflect values that the audience holds or can relate to? Are the moral implications of the story consistent with the listener's ethical beliefs?

4. **Relevance**: Is the narrative relevant to the listener's life? Does it speak to their experiences, concerns, or aspirations?

5. **Consequences**: Does the story suggest reasonable and acceptable outcomes? Are the consequences of actions within the narrative consistent with what the listener understands about cause and effect?

When a narrative has high fidelity, listeners are more likely to accept it as a truthful and reliable account, and it is more likely to influence their beliefs and actions. In contrast, a narrative with low fidelity may be dismissed as untrustworthy or irrelevant.

In summary, fidelity is used as a standard for assessing narrative rationality by evaluating how well a story aligns with the listener's own knowledge, experiences, and values. It is a measure of a narrative's capacity to provide a trustworthy and meaningful guide to understanding the world and making decisions within it.