Identification and communicative praxis: Kenneth Burke, Calvin Schrag, and the rhetoric of everyday life
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine the three uses of identification, as a strategy, as a means of analysis, and as a fundamental characteristic of human interaction, that are described in the work of Kenneth Burke using Calvin Schrag's theory of Communicative Praxis. To guide this examination, three justifications were given. First, there was a need to explore further Burke's understanding of identification in relation to his philosophy of Dramatism. A second, and related, justification was that little work had been done to describe the experience of identification. A final justification is that we needed to consider how the three uses of identification interrelate and reinforce one another. The guiding research question used to address these three justifications was, “How is an understanding of Burke's three uses of identification informed by Calvin Schrag's theory of communicative praxis?” There is an important and consistent relationship between Burke's description of identification and his philosophy of Dramatism. Identification plays a key role in Burke's ontology of Dramatism and his epistemology of Logology. Calvin Schrag's theory of Communicative Praxis allowed us see the three uses of identification from a different, yet not incongruous, perspective. Specifically, Schrag's understanding of “transversality,” the chronotope, and the “fitting response” allowed us to explicate further the three uses of identification and see how each use is interrelated.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Burks, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Communication|Philosophy
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