> >On Wed, 24 Feb 1999 20:33:43 -0500 pms <laflame at mindspring.com> writes
> >absolutely nothing.
> >
> >
> >It's what in plain language we'd call "a single theory to explain
> >everything."
>
> but i think you have to note that it tells a story, has an historical
> trajectory to it, one that suggests progress.
Not necessarily "suggests progress." This is what the PoMos charge the Enlightenment or modernism or whatever with, but there's no reason not to refer to a PoMo meta-narrative.
For most of human history there was a decadence meta-narrative: once upon a time there was a golden age, and it's been all downhill ever since.
> and, it makes assumptions about human beings, human nature, social
> change, the relationship between people, between people and society,
> etc.
Well, a grand meta-narrative would do all these things. But one could also speak of a meta-narrative shaping an artistic genre, transcending and encompassing all the particular narratives bound up in that genrea, and such a meta-narrative need not touch on all of the above. Though, of course, it's always fun to argue that yes, it does touch on all of the above, and thus can an endless flood of papers be borne from the foam.
> it might be something akin to a meta-narrative we have about
> our own individual lives. we like to reconstruct our past to
> suggest some sort of purpose, overlay some sort of meaning
> that helps us make sense of who we have been, who we are,
> and who we might become.
Yes, precisely! A narrative only says what happened, but a meta-narrative encompasses all the Borgian forked-paths of might-have-been. They do not branch omni-directionally with equal weight in all directions, as Borges usually suggests. Instead, there is a shape and structure to the realm of possibilities. That shape and structure is the meta-narrative.
> the language of AA is a language that attempts to
> help folks understand who they have been, are, and might
> become by overlaying a meta-narrative of addiction, no?
Yes, exactly. And in turn it suggests a larger meta-narrative about addiction in general. See, for example *The Diseasing of America: Addiction Treatment Out of Control* by Stanton Peele.
-- Paul Rosenberg Reason and Democracy rad at gte.net
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