Editing Kenneth Burke (section)

==Philosophy==
The political and social power of ''symbols'' was central to Burke's scholarship throughout his career. He felt that through understanding "what is involved when we say what people are doing and why they are doing it", we could gain insight into the cognitive basis for our perception of the world. For Burke, the way in which we decide to narrate gives importance to specific qualities over others. He believed that this could tell us a great deal about how we see the world.

===Dramatism===
Burke called the social and political rhetorical analysis "[[dramatism]]" and believed that such an approach to language analysis and language usage could help us understand the basis of conflict, the virtues and dangers of cooperation, and the opportunities of identification and consubstantiality.

Burke defined the rhetorical function of language as "a symbolic means of inducing cooperation in beings that by nature respond to symbols."  His [[definition of humanity]] states that "man" is "the symbol using, making, and mis-using animal, inventor of the negative, separated from his natural condition by instruments of his own making, goaded by the spirit of hierarchy, and rotten with perfection."<ref>Burke, Kenneth. "Definition of Man." ''The Hudson Review'' 16 4 (1963/1964): 491-514</ref><ref>Coe, Richard M. "Defining Rhetoric—and Us: A Meditation on Burke's Definition." ''Composition Theory for the Postmodern Classroom''. Eds. Olson, Gary A. and Sidney I. Dobrin. Albany: SUNY Press, 1994. 332-44.</ref>  For Burke, some of the most significant problems in human behavior resulted from instances of symbols using human beings rather than human beings using symbols.

Burke proposed that when we attribute motives to others, we tend to rely on ratios between five elements: act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose. This has become known as the [[dramatistic pentad]].  The pentad is grounded in his dramatistic method, which considers human communication as a form of action. Dramatism "invites one to consider the matter of motives in a perspective that, being developed from the analysis of drama, treats language and thought primarily as modes of action" (''Grammar of Motives'', xxii).  Burke pursued literary criticism not as a formalistic enterprise but rather as an enterprise with significant [[sociological criticism|sociological]] impact; he saw literature as "equipment for living," offering folk wisdom and common sense to people and thus guiding the way they lived their lives.

===Rebirth cycle===
Through the use of dramatism, one can ultimately utilize Burke's Rebirth Cycle.  This cycle encompasses three distinct phases, which include: Guilt/Pollution, Purification, and Redemption.  Burke introduced the phases and their functionality through the use of a poem.  The poem follows, 
"Here are the steps
In the Iron Law of History That welds Order and Sacrifice 
Order leads to Guilt
(For who can keep commandments!) Guilt needs Redemption
(for who would not be cleaned!) Redemption needs Redeemer (which is to say, a Victim!) 
Order
Through Guilt
To Victimage
(hence: Cult of the Kill)..." (p. 4-5) <ref>Burke, Kenneth. The Rhetoric of Religion. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961. Print.</ref>
Burke's poem provides a basis of for the interactions of the three phases. Order's introduction into the life of human enables the creation of guilt. In order to alleviate the results produced by the creation of Guilt, redemption is necessitated.  Through the abstraction of redemption, Burke leads to the completion of the cycle.

Pollution initially constitutes actions taken by an individual that result in the creation of Guilt.  The creation of Guilt occurs upon the rejection of a hierarchy. Challenges to relationships, changes in power, and appropriateness of behaviors to change are each contributing factors toward the formation of Guilt.<ref>Rybacki, Karyn & Rybacki, Donald. Communication Criticism: Approaches and Genres. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1991. Print.</ref> It is appropriate to draw parallels between the creation of Guilt, and the concept of [[original sin]]. Original sin constitutes "an offense that cannot be avoided or a condition in which all people share".<ref>Foss, Sonja K., Foss, Karen A., and Trapp, Robert. Contemporary Perspectives on Rhetoric. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc., 2014. Print.</ref> Guilt represents the initial action that strips a situation of its perceived purity. The establishment of Guilt necessarily leads to the need to undergo purification to cleanse the individual affected by its recognition.  Purification is thus accomplished through two forms of "ritual purification." Mortification and victimage represent the available avenues of purification.

Stratification within society created by hierarchies allows for marginalization within societies.  Marginalization thus is a leading factor in the creation of Guilt, and leads to the need for mortification. Burke stated, "In an emphatic way, mortification is the exercising of oneself in 'virtue'; it is a systematic way of saying no to Disorder, or obediently saying yes to Order".<ref>Burke, Kenneth. The Rhetoric of Religion. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961. Print.</ref> Mortification allows an individual's self-sacrifice which consequently enables them to rid themselves of impurities. Purification will only be reached if it is equal to an individual's degree of guilt.  If mortification cannot be reached, individuals will ultimately be forced to project, "his conflict upon a scapegoat, by 'passing the buck,' by seeking a sacrificial vessel upon which he can vent, as from without, a turmoil that is actually within".<ref name=":1">Burke, Kennth. ''A Rhetoric of Motives.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969. Print.</ref> Sacrificial vessels allow for the extermination of an individual's Guilt while enabling them to remain virtuous. 
Victimage is the second form of ritual purification. Burke highlights society's need to rectify division within its ranks. He contended that "People so dislike the idea of division, their dislike can easily be turned against the man or group who would so much as name it, let alone proposing to act upon it".<ref>Burke, Kenneth. "The Rhetoric of Hitler's "Battle." ''Readings in Rhetorical Criticism.'' Ed. Carl R. Burgchardt. State College: STRATA Publishing, Inc. 2010. 238-253.</ref> Victimage allows for the creation of a scapegoat that serves as a depository of impurities in order to protect against entities that are alien to a particular society. The scapegoat takes on the sins of the impure, thus allowing redemption for the Guilty party. Through the course of these actions the scape goat is harnessed with the sins of the Guilty.

Redemption is reached through one of two options. Tragic redemption revolves around the idea that guilt combines with the principles of perfection and substitution in order that victimage can be utilized. This can be viewed as the "guilty is removed from the rhetorical community through either scapegoating or mortification".<ref>Borchers, Timothy. ''Rhetorical Theory: An Introduction''. Long Grove: Waveland Press, 2006.</ref> Comic enlightenment is the second form of redemption. This option allows the sins of the guilty to be adopted by Society as a whole, ultimately making Society guilty by association.

===Terministic screen===
Another key concept for Burke is the [[Terministic screens|Terministic screen]]—a ''set'' of symbols that becomes a kind of ''screen'' or grid of intelligibility through which the world makes sense to us.  Here Burke offers rhetorical theorists and critics a way of understanding the relationship between language and ideology.  Language, Burke thought, doesn't simply "reflect" reality; it also helps ''select'' reality as well as ''deflect'' reality. In ''Language as Symbolic Action'' (1966), he writes, "Even if any given terminology is a ''reflection'' of reality, by its very nature as a terminology it must be a ''selection'' of reality; and to this extent must function also as a ''deflection'' of reality.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Bizzell | last2 = Herzberg | title = The Rhetorical Tradition | edition = 2 |editor=Patricia Bizzell |editor2=Bruce Herzberg | pages = 1340–47 }}</ref> 
Burke describes terministic screens as reflections of reality—we see these symbols as things that direct our attention to the topic at hand. For example, photos of the same object with different filters each direct the viewer's attention differently, much like how different subjects in academia grab the attention differently.  Burke states, "We must use terministic screens, since we can't say anything without the use of terms; whatever terms we use, they necessarily constitute a corresponding kind of screen; and any such screen necessarily directs the attention to one field rather than another." Burke drew not only from the works of Shakespeare and Sophocles, but from films and radio that were important to pop culture, because they were teeming with "symbolic and rhetorical ingredients." We as a people can be cued to accept the screen put in front of us, and mass culture such as TV and websites can be to blame for this. Media today has altered terministic screens, or as [[Richard Toye]] wrote in his book ''Rhetoric: A Very Short Introduction'',  the "linguistic filters which cause us to see situations in particular fashions."<ref>{{cite web|author1=Killian, Justin |author2=Larson, Sean |author3=Emanuelle Wessels |title=Language as Symbolic Action|url=http://www.comm.umn.edu/burke/LASA.html|publisher=University of Minnesota|access-date=2014-02-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Toye|first=Richard|title=Rhetoric: A Very Short Introduction|year=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford, United Kingdom|isbn=978-0-19-965136-8|pages=71–73}}</ref>

===Identification===
Burke viewed [[Identification in Burkean rhetoric|identification]] as a critical element of persuasion.<ref>{{cite book|last=Warnock|first=Tilly|title=Kenneth Burke's Rhetoric of Identification: Lessons in Reading, Writing, and Living |year=2024|publisher=Parlor Press|location=Anderson, South Carolina, United States|isbn=978-1643174488|pages=1–286}}</ref> According to Burke, as we listen to someone speak, we gauge how similar that person is to us. If our opinions match, then we identify (rhetorically) with the speaker.<ref name=":0" /> Based on how much we identify with the speaker, we may be moved to accept the conclusions that the speaker comes to in an argument, as well as all (or most) of its implications. In ''A Rhetoric of Motives'', Burke not only explores self-identification within a rhetorical context, but also analyzes exterior identification, such as identifying with objects and concepts that are not the self.<ref name=":1" /> There are several other facets to identification that Burke discusses within his books, such as consubstantiality, property, autonomy, and cunning. 

Burke's exploration of identification within rhetoric heavily influenced modern rhetorical theory. He revolutionized rhetoric in the West with his exploration of identification, arguing that rhetoric is not only about "rational argument plus emotion",<ref name=":0" /> but also that it involves people connecting to language and one another at the same time. Burke’s theory of identification was complicated by his critical interest in music, prompting a shift toward distinguishing between form and information in sonic identification.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Overall |first1=J. |title=Kenneth Burke and the Problem of Sonic Identification |journal=Rhetoric Review |date=2017 |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=232–243 |doi=10.1080/07350198.2017.1318348 |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/07350198.2017.1318348|url-access=subscription }}</ref>