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Revitalizing the Rhetoric of ‘Sustainability’: A Kenneth Burkean Diagnosis of Symbolic (Dis)Orders

Abstract This paper offers a new perspective on the rhetoric of ‘sustainability’ especially within dialogue around ‘design for sustainability’ (DfS) by applying and advancing the work of twentieth-century rhetorical theorist and cultural critic, Kenneth Burke. Burke’s rhetorical theory is presented here for its potential to not only highlight but also transcend the common disjunction between theory and praxis that emerges in the ‘symbol-foolishness’ underpinning various forms of unsustainability. This paper presents Burke’s theory of symbolicity and discusses four key symbolic ‘disorders’ that he identified over the course of his career, namely, hierarchic psychosis, technological psychosis, trained incapacity, and the bureaucratization of the imaginative. In conclusion, this paper suggests how enhanced rhetorical literacy, or greater ‘symbol-wisdom’, could serve an important role in reviving the notion of ‘sustainability’ itself.