Dissertation - World Federation of Music Therapy

extent that it is organized after the manner of the narrative; narrative, in turn, is
meaningful to the extent that it portrays the features of temporal experience.”
(Ricoeur 1984, p. 3 and 52)
Ricoeur explored metaphor and narrative separately, however the theoretical
connection between the two theories is mentioned in the introduction to Time and
Narrative: “The Rule of the Metaphor and Time and Narrative form a pair; published
one after the other these works were conceived together… The meaning-effects
produced by each of them belong to the same basic phenomenon of semantic
innovation.” (Ricoeur 1984, ix). Polkinghorne summarized their different means by
saying that metaphors create innovation when its words retain the resistance of their
ordinary use, while the narrative does it by inventing plot, by means of which “goals,
causes, and chance are brought together within the temporal unity of a whole and
complete action.” (Polkinghorne 1988, p. 66, quoting Ricoeur 1984, p. ix).
MacGaughey suggests a simple, but clear correlation of metaphor and symbol
semantic and narrative: “Just as a metaphor functions at the level of the sentence,
symbol functions at the level of the narrative. Even when a symbol is used
independent of an explicit narrative, it presupposes and evokes one.” (McGaughey
1992, p. 427). Ricoeur’s understanding of ‘symbol’ developed over time. In this
context I will follow McGaughy’s suggestion that it is more important to look at
Ricoeur’s description of how the symbol functions than giving it a nominal definition:
“Symbols are concerned with the same tensions as metaphors, between tenor and
vehicle, between a literal interpretation and a metaphorical interpretation, between
identity and difference but at the level of the narrative rather than at the level of the
sentence. The symbol is concerned, then, with the same ‘ontological vehemence’ as
the metaphorical utterance. In other words, symbols are rooted in the dynamic vision
or reality as the metaphorical.” (p. 432) The power of a symbol is its potential of
exploding the horizon of the narrative. This potential will be addressed later in the
section.
The aim of Ricoeur’s narrative theory is to understand human action in a time
perspective. He refers to the classical concepts of Aristotle - poiesis, mimesis, praxis,
mythos and katharsis - but in a more general way so that they may serve not only the
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