On Kenneth Burke's Dramatism

Dramatism is the essence of Kenneth Burke’s thoughts.To further understand its intrinsic qualities,this paper analyzes its three theoretical foundations from Burke’s views on humanity,language and rhetoric.Then it provides comments on dramatism.After a comprehensive exploration of these three theoretical foundations,it reveals that Burke’s dramatized world is a world of meaning or rhetoric,not a world of matter.In this dramatized world,human beings’behavior is a kind of symbolic action.