Welcome APers!

So, first we’ll play a game.

You’ll have a piece of paper. Write one reasonably hefty sentence describing something specific you did over the summer. Next, give the paper to the person clockwise from you. Then, draw a picture describing the sentence you’re reading. Fold the paper over the sentence. Pass it on.

Here is your first writing assignment/discussion.

Read the following quote from Kenneth Burke:

Where does the drama get its materials? From the “unending conversation” that is going on at the point in history when we are born. Imagine that you enter a parlor. You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about. In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before. You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar. Someone answers; you answer him; another comes to your defense; another aligns himself against you, to either the embarrassment or gratification of your opponent, depending upon the quality of your ally’s assistance. However, the discussion is interminable. The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress.

Explain how Burke’s metaphor describes his conception of intellectual discussion. What does the metaphor emphasize? What does it value? What does it skim over or miss? If you were to create your own metaphor to describe how intellectual debate works, what would you use? Explain.

You’ll write, discuss in small groups, and then we’ll discuss as a whole.

Then, if we have time in class, if not for homework, read Charles Murray’s Aztecs vs Greeks and answer the following questions in a Word document on your computer.

1. Boil down Murray’s thesis to one sentence.
2. What assumptions does Murray make without feeling the need to prove?
3. What evidence does he use to prove his point?
4. Is he persuasive or successful? Be specific and explain why or why not?
5. What are the responsibilities of those who are more highly educated? What should society demand of those who are more intelligent?

Image Credit: Kenneth Burke Society