Berlin...

        The Berlin article talks about the major pedagogical theories existing within the teacher profession - Classicist, Positivist, Expressionist, and New Rhetorician starting from their inception up until modern times – and how the elements of writer, reader, audience, and language are defined in each theory to develop the perception of ascertaining and communicating knowledge.  Expressing these relationships between the WRAL elements and each theory is an attempt to not only make writing teachers cognizant of their methodology, but to ensure that such methodology isn’t merely mechanical or conflicting with the goals to help students see and shape their ideas and experiences.

        The Classicist uses a syllogism called deductive logic that utilizes the premises and conclusions to define an argument from broad generalizations.  For example, if all men are mortal and Socrates is a man, then Socrates is mortal – a = b, b = c, therefore a = c.  This reasoning, also known as top-down theory, uses inventional devices like logos, pathos, and ethos to define that argument.  The primer of these devices is established from the world through sensory data of the individual which in turn correspond with one another, “a happy correspondence between the mind and the universe” (767).  Both the dialectical process (learned discourse) and rhetoric (popular discourse) are crucial, more so the former, in persuading the audience of the truth and uses language of a historical and societal context.

        The Positivist, unlike the Classicist, relies on stylistic language invented between the speaker and interpreter – so the relationship between learned and popular discourse collapses and is rhetoric linguistically cuts across all forms of communication, including science and politics.  This approach uses inductive logic which uses specific examples to make broader generalizations.  For example: Almost all performers of Hip-Hop are members of the Illuminati society. Jay-Z is a performer of Hip-Hop.  Therefore Jay-Z is a member of the Illuminati.  There’s a separation between the world and the individual when articulating the truth.  Sensory data (sans the mind) of the speaker/writer is the communicative force behind the language created to replicate objects and experiences of the interpreters.

        Unlike Positivists, Expressionists use the mind solely, not physical senses, to shape their private revelations despite such possible truths can’t be articulated.  Instead, what’s expressed is the illumination subsequent to dialectical process - the enlightenment being the fault blocking top knowledge is erased through interaction, not instruction, as a way to re-designate the self to discover ultimate intellectuality.  So, the writing reflects not the ultimate truth, but the process of error removal impeding the speaker/writer from realizing that truth.  Even though the ultimate truth can’t be expressed, certain realities and genuine rhetoric signified by the speaker/writer can help the speaker/writer uncover that truth.  Classroom dialogue between its members is one such reality.

        Berlin lauds the New Rhetoric approach, comprised of all the WRAL elements, as the “clearest pedagogical expression” overall because it doesn’t rely on visual, mental, or sensory experience to determine truth – it is the vehicle of language and the use of appropriate words in the language that uncover and communicate truth.  In addition, all the WRAL elements in this approach shape knowledge.  Although writers draw on these different types of experiences to theorize what can be said or perceived, it is the writing control of language and the amount of experiential exposure allowed that determines what the audience can and can’t perceive: “…it is language that embodies and generates truth” (774).  So to create truth, you have to be a great liar.