Examining the Patterns of Communicative Action in the Story of Prophet Yusuf (AS) Based on Jürgen Habermas' Theory

The theory of communicative action in discourse analysis is based on the element of language. Jürgen Habermas is one of the theorists who has presented a comprehensive view regarding communicative action. In his theory, communicative action consists of three parts: speech, representation, and normativity. By relying on his approach, one can gain an accurate understanding of the invisible meanings beneath the layers of a discourse. Given that the story of Prophet Yusuf (AS) is one of the moral and instructive narratives in the Qur'ān, and that Yusuf, according to the circumstances he found himself in, chose the method of dialogue to express divine truth, language and verbal communication play a central role in this story. The present study, using a descriptive-analytical method and relying on Jürgen Habermas’s theory of communicative action, has aimed to deepen the semiotic understanding of the story of Prophet Yusuf (AS) within the scope of the dialogue among the main and secondary characters of the story. The findings of this research indicate that the main actor is Prophet Yusuf (AS), who acts from a personal “I” perspective and establishes a coherent discourse through the use of language and dialogue within the story. According to Habermas’s theory, the discourse of Prophet Yusuf (AS) possesses features such as persuasion, perseverance, making evidence-based claims, and so forth. The proof of the existence of God is presented through rational arguments by the central character of the story. The element of persuasion is most frequently employed to evoke the internal feelings of the audience towards truth. Communicative action has a higher frequency compared to representational and normative actions, while normative actions are pre-organized and directed towards the main objective.