ABSTRACT
This chapter theorizes the need for an advance in rhetorical training in the humanities. It traces the development of thinking as a specialized activity through the exercise of different aspects of thought. By a ‘specialized activity’ we mean one that is acquired through training and discipline, something one learns to do. Thinking as defined here amounts to the mastery of linguistic, social and logical codes; in sum, the thesis is that to think is to have the active ability to read, write, listen, speak and remember. This competence, or proficiency with signs and their employment, is the chief benefit of an education in the humanities and certainly in literature, history and philosophy.
