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
reflection reality men
Men seek for vocabularies that are reflections of reality. To this end, they must develop vocabularies that are selections of reality. And any selection of reality must, in certain circumstances, function as a deflection of reality.
character events may
We not only interpret the character of events... we may also interpret our interpretations.
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.
animal men order
Man is/the symbol-using (symbol making, symbol-misusing) animal/inventor of the negative (or moralized by the negative)/separated from his natural condition by instruments of his own making/goaded by the spirit of hierarchy (or moved by the sense of order)/and rotten with perfection.
men perfection rotten
Man is rotten with perfection.
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.
thinking doe language
Language does our thinking for us.
fall cutting men
The universe would appear to be something like a piece of cheese; it can be sliced in an infinite number of ways- and when one has chosen his own pattern of slicing, he finds that other men's cuts fall at the wrong places.
people progress enlightenment
The progress of human enlightenment can go no further than in picturing people not as vicious, but as mistaken.
decision choices alternatives
If decisions were a choice between alternatives, decisions would come easy. Decision is the selection and formulation of alternatives.
mean use essentials
Rhetoric is rooted in an essential function of language itself, a function that is wholly realistic and continually born anew: the use of language as a symbolic means of inducing cooperation in beings that by nature respond to symbols.