David Blakesley describes Kenneth Burke's pentad as the motivation behind action. Because dramatism helps us understand why we act (or say, respond, believe, etc) in a certain way, the pentad seems to be an approach to help us learn alternative ways of acting. When we say the word "race," for example, we associate a multitude of ideas, problems, identifications and so on with that word. Eventually we can no longer talk ourselves out of these ideas because as Blakesley notes, "our terms use us, rather than the other way around." In order to create meaning behind the word "race" in a way that helps us understand all different perspectives, we can use the pentad to force ourselves to break down previously held notions of race and create new ones.

I believe that the pentad, if used thoughtfully, could be a starting point to understanding our world and the strife that exists within it. It certainly won't result in a world of people joined hand-in-hand to circle the plannet, but if we could at least come to an understanding of why we disagree with certain ideas then we can "act" in a more positive way.

This idea needs some solid grounding from anyone who understands dramatism better than I do. Any thoughts?