The Narrative of Ethics and the Ethics of Narrative: The Implications of Ricoeur's Narrative Model for Family Therapy

Abstract

In this article, we explore Paul Ricoeur's meditations on language, memory, and forgiveness as a means to better understanding ethical concerns of narrative construction in family therapy. These meditations highlight that narrative construction is fundamentally a relational process and therefore encourages a relationally responsible form of liberating narrative. The article includes a review of current perspectives on ethics in narrative therapy, an overview of Ricoeur's narrative theory, and a discussion of the implications of Ricoeur's theory for family therapists.