Narrative performance and the 'Taboo on Causal Inference': a case study of conceptual remodelling and implicit causation

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Abstract

Storytelling can be understood as a performative social event that instantiates a specific relationship between storyteller and audience. This relationship supports inferences of narrative causation in hearers, both locally (episode x caused episode y) and globally (repeated patterns of causation at a more abstract level). This applies to passages of performative speech in a narrative event that are non-narrative, such as description or digression. Scientific writing is often conceived as non-performative and impersonal, with causation expressed explicitly. However, I suggest in this chapter that discourse of this kind can make the task of configuring global patterns of causation more difficult. Performative narrative discourse, on the other hand, offers support for readers in the task of remodelling existing theoretical causal structures through reconceptualization. I illustrate this argument through an analysis of narrative and non-narrative performative discourse in the field of cognitive psychology.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationNarrative Science
Subtitle of host publicationReasoning, Representing and Knowing Since 1800
EditorsMary S. Morgan, Kim M. Hayek , Dominic J. Berry
Place of PublicationCambridge
PublisherCambridge University Press
Chapter18
Pages371-390
Number of pages18
ISBN (Electronic)9781009019279
ISBN (Print)9781316519004, 9781009001991
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Sept 2022

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