This was quite a change of pace after reading Elbow. I never really thought about the history of rhetoric. It was interesting to read about its' development over time and all the different philosophies that were involved. Although I took a philosophy class in my early college years, I don't remember much if any of what I learned about rhetoric.
I learned a lot of history including information about the sophists. It is not unrealistic to see why they used speeches to sway juries for money. It also stated that they "used rhetoric to obscure the truth rather than discover it". Doesn't this sound like modern day lawyers? It was hard times and they needed to support themselves. I actually understand their later theory that truth is relative stating that "each person involved is 'right' because each sees one facet of the truth." I think that this is how a lot of people feel when they fight/debate. If you only see your own side, you never understand the other person's reasoning. By exploring the other side of an issue, you can arrive at the actual truth. This idea is seen in Western education and today's eduation. While reading anothers' research and write your response to it. Individuals can decide whether they agree/disagree and find others to support their answer while also challenging the others' viewpoint.
The idea of talent, instruction, and practice being needed to be a good writer is debatable. I don't know if I agree that good writing is the result of talent rather than effort. If someone attends college and takes all of the required courses, they should be able to be at least a decent writer. If a person edits, revises, and works really hard on a piece than I think their effort could pay off. However, talent would make it easier and more fluent. Even good writers with talent have to put in a lot of effort to write a worthy piece of writing.
I found it interesting that before 1870, writing was judged by content and not mechanics. I am surprised in a way that society let go of this more creative and open way of evaluation. Not to say that grammar is not important, because it is, but someone could write a really interesting piece, but have lots of grammar problems which would turn this paper into a very low score. I would like to see more content grading. (like these blogs). It is important to make sure that people know how to formulate and correctly punctuate a document, but it is not the most important aspect of writing. It is the easiest to correct and it makes a small difference to the ideas and point of the writing.