Narrative Ethics

Abstract

While there is considerable interest in the relationship between narrative and ethics, the term “narrative ethics” is often used to mean different things by different authors. For some, narrative ethics means the use of literary narratives to inform ethical deliberations; for others it involves a close listening to patients’ stories. Such approaches are certainly narratively informed, but there is nothing inherently narratival about the ethical reasoning that the narratives are employed to support. Two other approaches may, more rightly, be called “narrative ethics.” The first of these is a narratological approach that draws on concepts from literary theory – context, character, plot, voice, point of view, and resolution – seeking to understand the process of constructing a workable story and enable those involved to reflect upon the type of story they construct and how they construct it. The second form of narrative ethics is one that views narrative as foundational to ethical practice. Persons are viewed as narrative beings and narrative shapes self and identity, is a form of reasoning in itself, and is a collaborative process of coauthorship. Several criticisms of narrative ethics are raised and the responses to these considered.