“In the beginning was the word” that sparked the creation of language and its complex system of signifiers, an infinite loop expanding as new ideas breathe into existence. Burke calls the rhetorical use of these symbols magic; its practitioners, spellbinders.…
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Defining Rhetoric: A Vain Attempt
by kmontero • • 0 Comments
To begin, I would like to criticize Kenneth Burke’s complex statements for my simple mind. Although reading Anne’s post provided clarity regarding his text and idea of “alienation” resulting from languages’ (signifier) inability to fully express meaning (signified), I believe Burke is entirely too…
Commentary 6
by Alex Janney • • 0 Comments
The readings for this week reinforced the idea that word choice is an essential component of rhetoric. In Burke’s, Language as Symbolic Action he makes reference to how Pascal found a way around dueling. While his sneakiness had very little…
Fusion of Present and Past
by uzma • • 0 Comments
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…
Burke and Weaver and the Power of Filters
by Anne Engert • • 0 Comments
Can we ever see the world as it really is? Metaphysical questions such as this go back a long way, and my grasp of all the centuries of ontological and epistemological philosophical wrangling is superficial at best. That we are…
Sweet and Sour
by lminnis209 • • 0 Comments
How can we see another culture as rhetorically important when we disregard the whole cultures validity as an equal? Maybe soon as a western culture we can start to acknowledge Chinese Rhetoric as an equally valid discourse. Our past concerns…
Commentary 5
by Alex Janney • • 0 Comments
There are so many things in life that people say a person should “take with a grain of salt;” I can’t help but wonder if translation is something I should add to my list along with the fashion ideas my…
Week 6: Everything in Moderation
by kmontero • • 0 Comments
The two excerpts from Xing Lu’s text “Rhetoric in Ancient China” featured attempts to open Western eyes to the Rhetoric of Ancient China through a comparison with Classical Greek Rhetoric. Although only provided part 1 and 2, the reading centered…
Flowery Chinese Rhetoric and My Brother’s Mother-in-Law
by Joel • • 0 Comments
It doesn’t surprise me that the Western culture has all but diminished not only Chinese rhetoric, but Indian as well, as either meaningless or non-existent. For the past two weeks we have read about all of the false accusations about…
Yameng Liu and Carolyn Matalene: Culture Clash or Culture Bash
by Anne Engert • • 1 Comment
I first encountered the idea that other cultures might have a radically different way of constructing arguments when I was a tutor in the writing center at a community college. In that school, we had many ESL students, quite a…