Man is a symbol using animal and dramatism functions as a philosophy of human relations. Burke’s dramatism answers many empirical questions of how people explain their actions to themselves and others, and explains the different cultural and social structural influence on the use of language and communication. Dramatism is an analysis of language and thought as modes of action rather than as a means of information. According to Burke the fusion of intelligence and rhetoric is required to acquire an insight in to a situation. Rhetoric helps to generate symbols and intelligence makes them comprehensible to us and in this way persuasion is achieved. The idea of 5ws is really crucial to arrive at an insight. It is interesting to note the similarity between Burke’s 5Ws and Nyaya Sutra example of ‘the smoke on the mountain’, and Rushd debate on the cause and effect paradigm. The twentieth century owes much from the ancients.
I do not agree with Perelman’s title “The New Rhetoric” as there is nothing new in it. It all is Logology,( words about words). I my opinion the 20th century rhetoricians are quite inspired by the classist and instead of using title “The New Rhetoric” as done by Perelman it should be termed as re-rhetoric. It all historic timelessness.
I found Weaver’s writing really inspiring in many ways as they set a more noble manner of life as well as aim and this work inspired toward the goal of eloquence in the pursuit of persuasion. What Weaver does very well is open our eyes to what ought to be self-evident – that the manner of our argumentation, the style of our attempt to persuade, reveals much about ourselves and the ethic of our rhetoric. His emphasis on the fact that the rhetorician talks about both what exist simply and what exists by favor of human imagination and efforts, it explore the crucial role of the practice of rhetoric in any culture. It is really important to encourage a deeper appreciation of Weaver’s role as a critic and practitioner of rhetoric. Richard Weaver saw rhetoric not as simply the art of finding the available means of persuasion, as did Aristotle; rather, he saw rhetoric as the means of adding impulse to truth, in the Platonic sense. The duty of rhetoric, Weaver argues, is to bring together action and understanding into a whole that is greater than scientific, rational or dialectical perception. Therefore, it may be useful to think of Weaver’s conception of rhetoric as having three elements: logic or reason, historicity, and sentiment.
There is one thing common in all the three writing and this is the idea of “Tradition and Individual Talent” means a historical timelessness – a fusion of past and present presented by T.S Eliot. Eliot offers a principle that includes a historical order by which the (literary or rhetorical) past must influence the present. Weaver’s basic training in “rhetoric” and “rhetorical criticism” came primarily from the classics, especially Plato and the writings of Perelman and Burke also indebted much to the Classicist.