Taking a metaperspective on rhetorical education

This essay takes a metaperspective on what it means to talk about rhetorical education, the subject of this collection. After exploring different senses of what the term may mean, the essay addresses three issues touched upon but not fully developed in the collection: first, the idea that rhetoric has no subject matter of its own but may instead be applied to any subject; second, why there is a cultural and historical moment in which questions of rhetorical education especially come before us; and third, why we should think about rhetoric outside the academy. This review concludes by suggesting that Cicero’s vision of The Orator sums up the aspirations for rhetorical education suggested in this collection.