In ancient Rome, assessments evaluated a student’s readiness for shouldering the weight of civic duty – they were not just performed for the good of a student’s soul.
When the Public Square Was the Final Exam Read More »
Ask a hiring manager what they really look for, and you’ll often hear the same answer. They want people who can think. Not just recite, not just execute,
How Classical Education Prepares Students for Real-World Problem Solving Read More »
We close this series with an outline of tone and tropes, the clothing in which Lady Rhetoric is clad.
Rhetorica: Past Conceiving, Fair Read More »
We have provided rhetoric with all its organs but two: the bones and the skin. We now give it a skeleton.
Rhetorica: Style Over Substance Read More »
To argue from authority would be beneath the dignity of theology, since “authority is the weakest kind of proof,” according to Boethius. —St. Thomas Aquinas
Rhetorica: The Topoi, IV. Authority Read More »
This is, justly, a popular topos. But there are certain vulnerabilities inherent in it, which we disregard at our peril.
Rhetorica: The Topoi, III. Cause and Effect Read More »
Analogy is one of the oldest, most prevalent devices of rhetoric; as it is written, “But without a parable spake he not unto them.”
Rhetorica: The Topoi, II. Similarity Read More »
In this topos, we are dealing not just with “how to use a dictionary” but with “how to link two minds in the realm of being.”
Rhetorica: The Topoi, I. Definition Read More »
As rhetoric is a complement to dialectic, so the topos is a complement to the syllogism. (Thrilled yet?)
Rhetorica: The Common Topoi Read More »
Though the topic is complex, the lesson is simple: To understand statistics, we should first learn how to.
Rhetorica: The Fourth Ditch of Fraud Read More »
