Written Communication Apr 1990

Forms of Discourse and the Sciences of the Mind: Luria, Sacks, and the Role of Narrative in Neurological Case Histories

DEBRA JOURNET

Abstract

This article discusses two sets of neurological case histories, A. R. Luria's The Man with a Shattered World and Oliver Sack's Awakenings, and argues that these histories display two paradigmatic explanations for the mind/brain relation, and that the movement from one paradigm to another also necessitates a movement to different forms of discourse. One explanation comes from the physical sciences and results in logical, quantitative exposition. The other originates in the human sciences and results in narrative. Luria and Sacks wrote these case histories in an explicit attempt to bridge—in understanding and in discourse—this paradigmatic gap; in the process, they redefined what it means to be a neuropsychiatrist. Case histories allow the writer to combine the empirical analysis characteristic of neurological discourse with the individual detail characteristic of psychological narrative.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1990-04-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088390007002001
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
discourse analysis
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (6)

  1. Smart et al. (2017)
    “Someone Just Like Me”: Narrative, Figured World, and Uptake in Therapeutic Boo…
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  4. JOURNET (1993)
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  5. Blyler (1992)
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CrossRef global citation count: 10 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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