Oct 3, 2011
On 'Trained Incapacity'
Burke defines the phrase as “that state of affairs whereby one’s very abilities can function as blindnesses”.
- Kenneth Burk, Permanence and Change (1935) p.7; in: Erin Wais, Trained Incapacity: Thorstein Veblen and Kenneth Burke (2005), KB Journal 2(1)
Burke’s use of trained incapacity not only expands Veblen’s use of that term, but provides a fecund concept that probably contributed to Burke’s thinking about orientation, perspective by incongruity, terministic screens, and other concepts that make up Burke’s theory of the symbol-using animal.
Erin Wais, Trained Incapacity: Thorstein Veblen and Kenneth Burke (2005), KB Journal 2(1)