Ways of Worldmaking

Abstract

Required reading at more than 100 colleges and universities throughout North America. “In a way reminiscent of Einstein, Goodman leads us to the very edge of relativism, only then to step back and to suggest certain criteria of fairness and rightness. More so than any other commentator, he has provided a workable notion of the kinds of skills and capacities that are central for anyone who works in the arts.” —Howard Gardner, Harvard University

Towards Neuroecosociality: Mental Health in Adversity

“…Many have commented on the potential relationship between Gibson's 'realism' and Von Uexku¨ll's 'subjectivism', for example Fultot and Turvey (2019). We argue that that they should both be considered 'irrealists' (Goodman, 1978) in that neither denies the existence or significance of a world outside thought, but both sidestep the Cartesian dualism that distinguishes these a priori and then troubles itself about their relations. 14.…”

Futurescapes: Imagination and temporal reorganization in the design of strategic narratives

“…To the degree that figuration involves selection and organization of heterogenous elements, it follows similar processes to those stipulated by Goodman (1978: 6) about how actors create versions of the world, that is, engage in “worldmaking.” He identified cognitive and rhetorical operations, such as making groupings and distinctions, bringing together elements across time, using metaphors, repetition, and selective emphasis and weighting, and building in specific orderings of events and other inputs. We argue that the same operations can be employed in the design of futurescapes to construct versions of possible worlds.…”

“…We argue that the same operations can be employed in the design of futurescapes to construct versions of possible worlds. Given the strategic objectives of the construction of futurescapes, and consistent with the self-serving bias often inherent in the process (Goodman, 1978), such world-making prioritizes the role of the firm in the version of the world it advances.…”

“…To address this gap, we conceptualize strategic narratives about the future as designed for prospective persuasion (Sommer, 2009), and we ask the following: How might firms design strategic narratives to persuade audiences about their preferred versions of the future? We answer this question by building on the philosophy and psychology of “world-making” (Bruner, 1986; Goodman, 1978; Herman, 2009) and theorize the narrative construction of “futurescapes,” defined as firm-centered world-making narratives that articulate a firm’s preferred future and its role in creating it. Following Goodman (1978), we conceptualize world-making as symbolic construction of versions of the world that vary in how they combine descriptions of the actual and the possible.…”

“…We answer this question by building on the philosophy and psychology of “world-making” (Bruner, 1986; Goodman, 1978; Herman, 2009) and theorize the narrative construction of “futurescapes,” defined as firm-centered world-making narratives that articulate a firm’s preferred future and its role in creating it. Following Goodman (1978), we conceptualize world-making as symbolic construction of versions of the world that vary in how they combine descriptions of the actual and the possible. We view the world-making function of narratives as central to future-oriented strategy making, as the future does not exist, and is instead mentally simulated (Szpunar et al, 2014) and narratively shared (Ricœur, 1991).…”