Rhetorical Implications of Modern Political:

Rhetorical Implications of Modern Political: An Examination of Obama's Berlin Speech Through a Langer Lens

During the summer of 2008, nearing the height of the political tempest that was the most recent Presidential election in the United States, now-President Obama gave a speech in Berlin, Germany that was tantamount to a campaign speech for the world. Given the rampant pace of the financial and political worlds since that time, it is hardly surprising that this speech has faded from most memories, and it must be acknowledged that there is little of real substance in Obama's words. This speech is significant, however, for what it is -- a pledge by a Presidential candidate to create world of greater peace and of greater freedom, and above all to make his nation a good global citizen. This paper examines this speech from using Susanne Langer's identification of discursive and presentational symbolization, showing that in reality the speech promises little while inspiring a great deal of confidence.

Susanne Langer and Discursive v Presentational Symbols

The first prominent female American philosopher, and one of the first prominent female philosophers generally, Susanne Langer is not often cited by philosophers today, though her work remains influential in the works of others (New World Encyclopedia). It is her work distinguishing discursive and presentational symbols and processes of symbolization, heavily influenced and inspired by the writings and a later intellectual correspondence with Ernst Cassirer, that is perhaps her most enduring philosophical achievement (Liukkonen).

Essentially speaking, discursive symbols are those that have a discrete and independent meaning, such as those used in ordinary language and in science -- the words on this page, for instance, are discursive in that a discrete meaning exists for each word (Langer). Presentational symbols, however, are wholly dependent on the context in which they arise -- the collective groups of symbols that exist in a work of art, be it a painting, a piece of music, or a verse of poetry, serve as examples of presentational symbols (Langer; Brand). The different kind of symbols also have direct implications for the process of symbolization -- of creating these symbols in a way meant to communicate meaning, either discursively and/or presentationaly -- and for decoding symbols as in the process of reading a passage or viewing a painting, etc. Yet these symbols, despite their clear and seemingly insurmountable differences, are not actually entirely mutually exclusive.

The example of poetry provides an excellent example for demonstrating this fact. Most (though admittedly not all) poems are made up of real words with discrete or semi-discrete meanings -- i.e. discursive symbols. Yet in many poems, these words take on significant new meanings based on their context; though they retain the same basic discrete meaning, they obtain new meanings and shades of meaning within the context of the poem. In this way, a poem is both discursive and presentational, containing a literal meaning and a contextual meaning that must be interpreted individually and subjectively but always under the auspices of the intent of the author. This possibility in poetry clearly indicates a possibility in other texts.

The Berlin Speech

The speech that Obama delivered to the crowd in Berlin on July 24, 2008, demonstrates the fulfillment of this possibility. The speech is full of images and words denoting grand principles, especially "freedom," and the manner in which these are intermingled with the logical arguments and exhortations for support -- and pledges of support -- that have direct literal meanings blur the line between discursive and presentational symbols. Each of Obama's words has specific meaning out of the context of this speech, and each word largely retains this meaning within the speech, but the context of the speech as a whole shifts the meanings of these words and of the entire speech, transforming the symbols into something that appears to have ore substance presentationaly than is substantiated through a discursive examination of the same speech.

An excellent early example of the way Obama melds discursive and presentational symbols is in his first direct reference to the division that Berlin experienced for decades: "And on the twenty-fourth of June, 1948, the Communists chose to blockade the western part of the city. They cut off food and supplies to more than two million Germans in an effort to extinguish the last flame of freedom in Berlin" (Obama). The concrete details provided in the first part of the quite give way to the symbolic flame-extinguishing effort, effectively making the concrete aspects of the statement part of the abstract symbolism. In other words, making the discursive presentational.

The essential problem with this is not that it demonstrates a cogent and meaningful use of symbolism by a politician, but rather that this speech is ostensibly wholly discursive, outlining practical plans for the ways in which the United States can better align itself with the international community. Langer explicitly argues against a sole reliance on discursive symbols and the "peculiar picture of mental life" it produces, but in language that largely purports to be discursive by beginning ideas with statements like "this is the moment when we must come together to save this planet" and ending with presentational platitudes such as "this is the moment to give our children back their future" certainly couldn't have been what Langer had in mind (Langer 88; Obama). Ultimately, the melding of discursive and presentational symbols systems in this speech did not lead to enhanced meanings as it does in poetry and other artforms, but rather led to a lack of any real substantial or discrete and practically impactful meaning, which is what was needed.