A Rhetoric of Motives: Order Part 8 | Kenneth Burke’s Final Insights

Welcome back, everyone! I’m Dr. Bobby, “The Best Assistant Professor Who Never Was,” and today we’ve reached the grand finale of Kenneth Burke’s A Rhetoric of Motives. 🎉

In this episode, we dive into Burke’s exploration of hierarchy, dialectic, mysticism, and identification—all central themes in his rhetorical framework. We examine how imagery builds social and moral hierarchies, how dialectical opposites seek consubstantiation, and how belief structures influence our understanding of the natural and supernatural.

💡 Key Topics Covered: 🔹 The role of hierarchy in rhetorical analysis 🔹 The dialectic between natural and supernatural motives 🔹 The rhetorical magic of questions and their social significance 🔹 Mysticism, the sublime, and rhetorical transcendence 🔹 How Aristotle’s Ethos, Logos, and Pathos tie into Burke’s theory 🔹 Enthymeme vs. Socratic Method: Audience participation in rhetoric 🔹 Mimesis and its impact on literary and rhetorical studies

We’ll also explore Jimmy Durante’s twist on The Golden Rule and how it reflects the social climb—an apt metaphor for rhetorical hierarchies! 😆

As we close out A Rhetoric of Motives, we see how Burke provides not just a method for analyzing persuasion, but a way of understanding how we structure meaning itself.

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🔔 Stay tuned for more explorations of the most fascinating ideas in English studies. See you next time!

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