Kenneth Burke
Kenneth Burke
Kenneth Duva Burkewas an American literary theorist who had a powerful impact on 20th-century philosophy, aesthetics, criticism, and rhetorical theory. As a literary theorist, Burke was best known for his analyses based on the nature of knowledge. Furthermore, he was one of the first individuals to stray away from more traditional rhetoric and view literature as "symbolic action."...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth5 May 1897
CountryUnited States of America
light purpose principles
Our purpose is simply to ask how theological principles can be shown to have usable secular analogues that throw light upon the nature of language.
arbitrary assertion naturally seem sheer simply victim vision
It is deplorable, but not tragic, simply to be a victim of circumstance. Sheer victimization is not an assertion - and it naturally makes not for vision but for frustration. The victimizing circumstances, or accidents, seem arbitrary and exorbitant, even silly.
clear empirical figure hope interpret issues motivation solved subject terms ultimately ways
We hope to make clear the ways in which dialectical and metaphysical issues necessarily figure in the subject of motivation. Our speculations, as we interpret them, should show that the subject of motivation is a philosophic one, not ultimately to be solved in terms of empirical science.
conversation drama history point
Where does the drama get its materials? From the "unending conversation" that is going on at the point in history when we are born.
creation authority
Creation implies authority in the sense of originator.
fall ideas covenant
Creation implies authority in the sense of originator. The possibility of a 'Fall' is implied in a Covenant insofar as the idea of a Covenant implies the possibility of its being violated.
different degrees kind
For no continuity of social act is possible without a corresponding social status and the many different kinds of act required in an industrial state, with its high degree of specialization, make for corresponding classification of status.
thinking doe language
Language does our thinking for us.
reflection reality given
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 it must function also as a deflection of reality,
men perfection rotten
Man is rotten with perfection.
decision choices alternatives
If decisions were a choice between alternatives, decisions would come easy. Decision is the selection and formulation of alternatives.
attitude agents use
The use of words by human agents to form attitudes or induce actionsin other human agents.
dignity
Dignity belongs to the conquered....
language planets
Words are like planets, each with its own gravitational pull.