"A 'scientistic' approach begins with questions of naming, or definition. Or the power of language to define and describe may be viewed as derivative..." (Burke. 44.). As English majors, or at least for myself, it's hard to understand that there is can be a scientistic approach to language. While yes there are steps we go through to write an essay or present a project, we never think of these steps scientifically. Language for me has just been something we've learned to speak and write and the power of language simply defines the way you feel about a particular piece of work.
"What I mean by the 'dramatistic,' stressing language as an aspect of 'action,' that is, as 'symbolic action'" (Burke. 44.). Now for me, the word "dramatistic" is not a difficult idea to apply when speaking about language and trying to understand what language is. Language can create action, such with a person telling someone to "go" or "leave" or "run." By using these terms, the speaker is hoping their audience will use these commands to create action, by literally going somewhere, leaving, or running to another place.
Burke continues through his explanation of the difference between "scientistic" and "dramatistic" by providing examples. Where as scientistic language can be described as "It is, or it is not" (Burke. 44.), the dramatistic language is better described as "thou shalt, or thou shall not" (Burke. 44.).
With this explanation, I see scientistic language as objects. One could say something is a box or something is a book, whereas if you take a dramatistic approach to language, one could say something shall be a box because it is shaped like a cube or something shall be a book because it has pages and a binding. Although to me, it sounds like it should be the other way around. Perhaps it is?
So what exactly is a terministic screen? When applied through Kenneth Burke's book of essays entitled Language As Symbolic Action, terministic screens involve the acknowledgement of a language system that determines an individual's perception and symbolic action in the world.
An example of a terministic screen can be found in the term "gender." If you ask someone who is elderly to say the first word that comes to mind when you mention the term "gender," there are more than likely going to answer with male, female, boy, girl, man, or woman. No matter which of these terms they use, there is still the connotation that there are only two types of genders.
With that being said, if you ask someone who is a young adult what the first word is that comes to mind when you use the term "gender," you may hear male, female, boy, girl, man, or woman still, yet you may also hear intrasex, mixed sex, gay, bi-sexual, etc.
The answer above of what a person answers when asked about the term "gender," almost directly explains if they think in a scientistic (male and female) or a dramatistic (intrasex and mixed sex).
These examples can be further studied with the use of terms "baby" and "fetus" when referring to the growing being inside a pregnant woman's stomach. Where as the term "fetus" defines reality in a scientistic way, the term "baby" allows people to act in a certain, dramatistic way.
Koral,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I want to start off by saying that I appreciate all the explanations to Burke's definitions and examples. I am seeing "scientistic" and "dramatistic" differently after reading your post. My favorite example as far as the terministic screens go was the gender example because it relates to my post in a way; I just viewed the term "disabled" through terministic screens rather than the term "gender." I do agree with the fact that when the topic of gender gets brought up that people do tend to only use male and female. Most people do use male or female because that is what a lot of us are use to. We forget a lot of the times that there are transgenders as well. I think this relates to my post because just like disabled people, a lot of the times, transgenders are put in to their own group by society as well and are often not viewed the same if they tell someone they are transgender rather than just male or female. This also goes along with what you are saying about classifying the genders by their sexuality. Their are many different terms to describe heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bi-sexual. We often hear the terms, "straight," "gay," "lesbian" or just "bi." There are also offensive words used to describe sexuality as well as there are offensive terms to describe someone who is disabled. People perceive these terms all differently and have different experiences with getting called certain names or terms. These are specifically in the scientistic approach as far as being named and being defined but I have seen commercials "requesting" or "commanding" that people stop discriminating against homosexuality which would be considered dramatistic. Great job!
-Dina Kratzer
Koral,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post. Your examples really put things into perspective and they gave me a better understanding of the terms. Your explanation of the word “dramatistic” is truly great, it helped me grasp the full meaning of the word and it help that you used it in a sentence to explain what it truly is about. I can agree with you on the fact that language is something other than scientific because if it were purely scientific, it would always have the same outcome and language can be very subjective depending on the individual and their interpretation of it.
I can also agree with the example that you give us about a box. I think that because of the characteristics of something, it can be classified accordingly and not the other way around. Your example of terministic screens is also great and I can concur with your gender example. Although the common ground for the term gender is that there are two, which is male and female, some might define it with a scientific approach and others with a dramatistic approach. It just all depends on the type of “screen” in which it is viewed. Great blog post overall!
Sincerely,
Karla Bennaton
Koral,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post. I think that the additions of all of the clarification going on between the different facets of terministic screens was very important and beneficial to your blog entry this week. I definitely see where your further interpretation for scientistic and dramatistic came from through out the rest of your post. Likewise to Dina, my favorite example of terministic screens was in relation to gender, because I felt like it was the most relatable and therefore thorough. My blog post this week was about race, but again it is relating and alluding to some sort of element which people are discriminated for. I like how your argument brings up the very singular spoke which our society looks at gender with. There is so much more diversity than just male or female. But not enough awareness and advocacy and change is perpetuated to popularize more diverse and inclusive terms in our society, mainly because of the stigma associated with new terms, as well as just disapproval from our patriarchic populous. In regards to my own post, I spoke about race, but I think that people who’s gender is refused to be recognized, or rather who’s gender is looked down upon or discussed less because it is different, is also a misuse of ethical codes within this country and within our society, just the same as minorities are disenfranchised and discriminated against by people, still. Despite thinking that we live in this great “free” society, we have to acknowledge the sphere of influence that the hedgemony still has over us, regardless of gender or race since discrimination knows no bounds and applies to all of those who are not heterosexual, white, and male. Overall, I think you did a good job addressing the perception of different terms. Moreover, I like your bit concerning the scientistic approach and how it cam be given a spin to later become dramatistic. Good work this week.
-Valeria Vargas Caro
Koral:
ReplyDeleteThis post was awesome! It was interesting to see how you were able to break down the "scientistic" and "dramatistic" approaches into such a clear way and into a way that we can actually understand rather than Burke's crazy definitions! Back when I took rhetoric (Enc3021) 2 years ago, we learned about terministic screens and rhetorical lenses. I know that a terministic screen is defined as a language system that determines how an indivisual perceives abstract notions (Burke, 44), but what this literally means, is that a terministic screen is the way in which a person views the world. When I think of terministic screens, I immediately think of race and hegemony. Just like with gender, if you asked someone what came to mind when you said "race" they would say black, white but they may also bring up slavery, Tyler Perry, Ferguson, segregation, rap music, etc. I guess what I am saying, is that race to me is more than just your skin color, but it's the stereotypes associated with your skin color and the ones you have in your mind about other race's. Terministic screens, to me, therefore, are stereotypes that shape our perceptions and ideas about the world.