SCOM 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Kenneth Burke, Scapegoating, Dramatism
28 Nov 2018
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He studied philosophy, communication, literature, linguistics, and more. He was interested in motives and drama. Dramatism: a technique of analysis of language and thought as basically modes of action rather than ways of conveying info. He wanted to learn about a speaker"s motives. Dramatistic pentad provides tools to use for analyzing motives. We use these tools to interrupt drama. The 5 points of the tool are: act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose. Burke said that humans are symbol-using animals. Humans can create, use, and abuse language. Burke"s idea of guilt: his catchall term to cover ever form of tension, anxiety, embarrassment, shame, disgust, and other noxious feelings intrinsic to the human condition. Without language, humans wouldn"t experience these feelings. Burke believes that ultimately getting rid of guilt is the motive for public rhetoric. The quest for redemption is the basic plot of the human drama. Two ways to get riding of guilt = mortification and scapegoating.
