Symbolizing Motion: Burke's Dialectic and Rhetoric of the Body

Full Contact: Sexual Assault, Combat Sports, and the Myth of Self-Defense

“…Motion, Burke (1978) argues, is grounded in the animalistic nature; it is the aspect of instinct that requires no reflective consideration of the propriety of acts based on larger symbolic notions of ethics (p. 812). Action, on the other hand, involves a reflexive choice that is rationalized symbolically (Crable, 2003, p. 124). Burke (1978) is careful to note that the distinction between action and motion is not a naturally occurring phenomenon but a symbolic construct that allows rhetors to delineate certain instances and motives from one another (p. 809).…”

“…Burke (1978) is careful to note that the distinction between action and motion is not a naturally occurring phenomenon but a symbolic construct that allows rhetors to delineate certain instances and motives from one another (p. 809). Where motion is rooted in the biological, “physical processes uncontrolled by human speech or intentional acts,” action is centered in the cultural, “the symbolic, including both ideas and materiality” (Crable, 2003, p. 123; French & Brown, 2011, p. 2). An agent may claim or be assigned motion as a means to escape responsibility for a despicable act, which is a common refrain in sexual assault narratives where the attacker asserts that the victim’s choices determined the outcome, that is, “Did you see how she was dressed?” Burke (1954) notes that these designations are critical as, “Such shifts of interpretation make for totally different pictures of reality, since they focus the attention upon different orders of relationship” (p. 36).…”

Rhetoric, Anxiety, and Character Armor: Burke's Interactional Rhetoric of Identity1

“…However, since even an empirical account of biological ''reality'' relies upon symbol systems, the only private, ''natural'' aspects of the self identified will be those that are socially recognizable (Gergen, 1987;Thayer, 1997). Thus, because social materials separate that which is natural from that which is constructed, our conceptions of ''nature'' inevitably reflect the normative conceptions of society (Crable, 2003;Laing, 1971). Since Burke explicitly makes this argument in his later work (cf.…”

Language as Sensuous Action: Sir Richard Paget, Kenneth Burke, and Gesture-Speech Theory

“…123 The notable exception is Bryan Crable's 2003 essay, ''Symbolizing Motion: Burke's Dialectic and Rhetoric of the Body,'' which takes seriously the connective force of Burke's slash and reads the pair, as I do, in reciprocal relation* noncorresponding yet inseparable. 124 Burke's work with Paget intensifies or speeds up the reciprocal dialectical movement, and, however momentarily or provisionally, renders language as sensuous action.…”