blog number six and reflection

Dear Rios


I agree with you that Berlin was very hard to follow. He wrote about four dominant historical groups with regard to their methods of teaching writing. The first group was the Classicists which follow the philosophy of Aristotle. They believe in deductive logic. An example of this would be, when you begin with a generalization such as "All men are mortal, and go to a specific that "John is mortal". It is important to understand that when it comes to Aristotle he believes that each word has a meaning in and of itself.

The second group is Current Traditionalist. They believe in induction. They believe you learn the truth by observing and experimenting. This style does not believe that a word can have meaning without context, unlike Aristotle beliefs. They believe in proof plain and simple. This style of teaching believes much more in arrangement and style, than the Classicists.

The third group is the Current -Traditional Rhetoric. They can be traced to Emerson and its original source is Plato. They believe that truth can be learned, but not taught. Plato believes that truth can be learned individually. The world we live in is always changing , therefore it holds no truth to itself. Therefore the only truth is one persons own reality.

The last group which is Berlin`s favorite is the New Rhetoric. This group believes that knowledge comes about from two opposing points of view. The result of these two opposing theories going head to head creates a new truth all to itself. An example would be the factory workers fighting with their bosses. The result of that could be the start of labor unions. Therefore those two opposing arguments created a new truth all to itself. This theory also believes that language helps create truth. It makes me wonder do they think then that we would be feeble minded without language?

Reflection on peer writing

I loved this style. It helped me come up with different ideas to write about. Two minds work better than one. It made think when I was reading about what the other person must be thinking. It really kept my mind alert, while writing and reading. I think this style would work great with high school students. I would without a doubt use this method of writing in teaching a high school class. I think it could help students prepare for tests as well. It really helped prepare me for class. I came into class with two points of view on the content, instead of only one. This method is sought of like the New Rhetoric style that Berlin likes. In this style you take two theories, and create a new truth all to its own.