From Wittgenstein, Complexity, and Narrative Emergence : Discourse and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy

Abstract

This chaper connects Wittgensteinian thinking and complexity perspectives with discourse in the therapy room and elsewhere. We propose that this connection, termed 'narrative emergence''. While the future is unknowable, it is an ever present possibility in the present. We continuously create and discover the future by engaging in self-organizing activities (particularly social interactions) that are, at least partly, improvised, and potentially transformative. Thus, the narratives emergent in our everyday lives are always under construction. They exist in our ongoing ‘work’ to make sense of and manage the exigencies of life. These narratives emerge step-by-step in discourse.