Narrative Communication Ethics

Narrative communication ethics

            Our book states that Narrative Communication Ethics protects and promotes the good that “manifests through the action of a given story, and the characters that live the practices of a given narrative structure.” Narrative communication ethics arise from one’s lived experiences, and the goods that reside in those experiences. Thus, those experiences construct guidelines and provide principles for “living and evaluating one’s own life and that of others.” (Arnett, Fritz, Bell P.53). Narratives are driven by the attributes of the cultures from which they originate, and the goods that reside within these cultures can sometimes be shared across cultures in locations across the globe.

            Additionally, the book describes “metanarratives,” which identifies one transcendent good or set of transcendent goods. Postmodernism, however, recognized the presence of multiple and competing “petite narratives.” These petite narratives, unlike metanarratives, have a “ground” – within each narrative is an ethic to protect and promote a given sense of the good. The existence of multiple petite narratives allows one a set or sets of guiding principles, whilst those guiding principles don’t necessarily claim universal validity. (Arnett, Fritz, Bell P.53)