Kenneth Burke On Application And Toulmin On Argument

Starting with the famous Roman teachers of rhetoric, such as Cicero and Quintilian, to the inspiring Aristotle, these men and many more made huge contributions to rhetorical theory and how people understand and make sense of the world. The purpose of this paper is to access two articles on modern rhetoric. The first article is titled “Kenneth Burke on Form,” by Robert L. Heath and the second one is “Toulmin on Argument: An Interpretation and Application” by Wayne Brockriede and Douglas Ehninger. In this essay I will argue that Toulmin’s article on argument and interpretation application is the superior of the two articles. I will first summarize, “Kenneth Burke on Form,” and then summarize “Toulmin on argument: An Interpretation and Application”.

He first discusses the evolution of the concept, second he looks at various decisions that Kenneth Burke makes on the theory, third he explains how Burke combines form, substance, idea and audience appeal into a single, critical principle, and fourth he argues that his theory is important because it provides rationale for combing language, idea, and appeal.
The first discussion of this article is looking at the evolution of the development of Burke’s theory on form. It begins with his earliest writings in the 1920’s and continues to evolve throughout the 1970’s. During this time his thoughts reflect the influence of literary and rhetorical theory, perspectives on psychology and classical philosophy. He solved these influences into a dramatistic view of form as act. Heath states, as act, form is created by the interrelationship among substance, the discursive progression of an idea through its various stages of modification and amplification, and audience expectations. Burke states this unity is possible because appeal in form is intrinsic to language, the symbolic realm. He concludes that act, form and idea are

Stephen Toulmin noticed that good, realistic arguments typically will consist of six parts. He used these terms to describe the items. Data answers the question, “What have you got to go on?” Data is facts or evidence used that proves the argument. Without data clearly present or strongly implied, an argument has no informative or substantive component, no factual point of departure. Claim is the statement being argued, a thesis. It is always of a potentially controversial nature is the explicit appeal produced by the argument. A claim may stand as the final theory in an argument. The data and claim together may be regarded as its main proof line. Warrant the general, hypothetical (and often implicit) logical statements that serve as bridges between the claim and the data, it is the “leap” involved in advancing from data to claim. The warrant answers the question “How do you get there.” Its function is to carry the accepted data to the doubted or disbelieved proposition which establishes the claim, thereby confirming this claim as true or acceptable. Toulmin recognizes a second triad of components which may but need not necessarily to be present in an argument. He calls these the backing, rebuttal and qualifier. The backing is statements the serve to support the warrant. The rebuttal is counter-arguments or statements indicating circumstances when the general argument does