Terministic Screens in Modern Media The field of rhetoric took a significant step forward with Kenneth Burke’s essay “Terministic Screens”, published in his book Language as Symbolic Action. Burke defined the “terministic screen” as the way different terminologies direct attention in different ways:
When I speak of “terministic screens”, I have particularly in mind some photographs I once saw. They were different photographs of the same objects, the difference being that they were made with different color filters. Here something so “factual” as a photograph revealed notable distinctions in texture, and even in form, depending upon which color filter was used . . . (Burke, 1341).
Terministic screens affect human perception by reflecting, selecting, and deflecting certain portions of reality, according to Burke. Burke’s work regarding terministic screens has had an unparalleled impact on the field of rhetorical studies. He argued that language systems were inherently symbolic, thus every choice of words produced a terministic screen, and every choice of words is rhetorical by directing the attention one way or another. Even phrases that did not appear to be argumentative or persuasive …show more content…
The scientistic deals with naming, definitions, and descriptions – in other words, the representative nature of language. On the other hand, the dramatistic deals with action, and the imperative nature of language. As Burke describes it, “The ‘scientistic’ approach builds the edifice of language with primary stress upon a proposition, such as ‘It is, or it is not.’ The ‘dramatistic’ approach puts the primary stress upon such hortatory expressions as ‘thou shalt, or thou shalt not’” (1340). Burke stresses that the scientistic and dramatistic aspects of language are not mutually exclusive, thereby allowing language to simultaneously be both scientistic and
When I speak of “terministic screens”, I have particularly in mind some photographs I once saw. They were different photographs of the same objects, the difference being that they were made with different color filters. Here something so “factual” as a photograph revealed notable distinctions in texture, and even in form, depending upon which color filter was used . . . (Burke, 1341).
Terministic screens affect human perception by reflecting, selecting, and deflecting certain portions of reality, according to Burke. Burke’s work regarding terministic screens has had an unparalleled impact on the field of rhetorical studies. He argued that language systems were inherently symbolic, thus every choice of words produced a terministic screen, and every choice of words is rhetorical by directing the attention one way or another. Even phrases that did not appear to be argumentative or persuasive …show more content…
The scientistic deals with naming, definitions, and descriptions – in other words, the representative nature of language. On the other hand, the dramatistic deals with action, and the imperative nature of language. As Burke describes it, “The ‘scientistic’ approach builds the edifice of language with primary stress upon a proposition, such as ‘It is, or it is not.’ The ‘dramatistic’ approach puts the primary stress upon such hortatory expressions as ‘thou shalt, or thou shalt not’” (1340). Burke stresses that the scientistic and dramatistic aspects of language are not mutually exclusive, thereby allowing language to simultaneously be both scientistic and