2: Constructing Knowing: Paradigmatic and Narrative Modes of Representation and the Social Context of Meaning-Making

Bruner first proposed a distinction between what he calls the paradigmatic and narrative modes of knowing in 1986, in his much quoted book, ‘Actual Minds, Possible Worlds’, where he states,

According to Bruner, the paradigmatic mode of knowing is concerned with the creation and establishment of theories, categories and schemata, whilst the narrative mode of knowing is concerned primarily with establishing the truth-likeness of information and its relationship to personal reality through story.

Bruner's distinction between the two modes of knowing is not undisputed. David Olson raises two specific objections. First, he argues that the difference between the two is blurred and that there is a tendency towards