The family resemblance metaphor: Some unfinished business of interpretive inquiry

The rapidly expanding discipline of interpretive inquiry, especially in its narrative analysis form, has not been fully cognizant of certain crucial e pistemological and methodological assumptions that form the ultimate basis of ifs purpose. Even after abandoning traditional positivist views, the rel ated disciplines within the human sciences that are engaged in interpretive inquiry have still not discovered the core implicit assumptions that milit ate against a full acceptance of this form of inquiry. This article outline s the locus of these implicit assumptions and then argues that the legitima cy of these enterprises must be grounded in a well-known but heretofore und iscovered perspective, namely, Wittgenstein's notion of a family resemblanc e. It is argued that this metaphoric phrase is the key to unlocking the rea l and unique nature of narrative analysis.