Communiction Theories - Essay Example

Full Identification and Persuasion Burke’s theory of identification is a concept that has put into the limelight once again philosophers of old not to contest them but to give modern explanations and strength to what was established before him. For instance, in his objective to prove that identification is needed for a speaker to be able to persuade his listeners, he identified with Aristotle’s Rhetoric emphasizing persuasion. In his concept, Burke pointed out that persuasion is indeed a vital aspect in a speech lest the speaker’s words will be in vain when no one is persuaded however he emphasized identification of listeners to the speaker to be able to reach out to them.

The standard journalistic practice of answering the four W’s and the how is comparatively mentioned with the philosopher’s dramatistic pentad which breaks down the content of a speech as act, scene, agent, agency and purpose. As answering the five important questions helps journalists compose effective reports, completing the aforementioned information in a speech helps a speaker to formulate well-versed and well-guided information expressed to his listeners so where they can picture events so that they would be able to identify with what is being said.

In addition, Burke’s theory is also placed in juxtaposition with Martin Luther’s consubstantiation where the story of Ruth following her mother-in-law to a foreign land saying to her, “Where you go, I will go. Your people will be my people, your God will be my God” as an example of such identification. Indeed, when a person or group of people have similar sentiments as the speaker, they would spare there time to listen and join in the discussion of their beliefs as opposed to those who do not share the same conviction.

This shows that there is much truth to Burke’s words that ‘without identification, there is no persuasion’.