CATEGORY: HUMANITIES (12 min)
“University, I realized, was as much about learning to read as it was about actually reading things.”
You’ve read books before. You know how to read.
Or do you?
Do You Even Read, Bro?
The fall semester will be here before you know it, and so will your reading assignments.
Are you prepared? Do you know how to grasp the nuances of text and language?
College Students: This Is How You Read
In this wonderful Longreads essay, Irina Dumitrescu describes the experience of reading. The essay is enjoyable for its own sake, but you should also read it to learn:
- The many aspects of the little verb read
- The multiple meanings of a text (the literal meaning is just one)
- What the “craft” of reading looks like inside the classroom, and beyond
If you’re eager to make the most of your coming semester, or could use some inspiration, spend a few minutes with Dumitrescu’s essay. You’ll start miles ahead of your classmates.
|
|
CATEGORY: POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (17 min)
. . . and have more in common than they thought.
Sorry, lame punchline. But it turns out that this American Interest essay is no joke.
Why Right- and Left-Wing Radicals Aren’t So Different
Aaron Sibarium compares two books, one by the reactionary Ryszard Legutko and the other by feminist Brittney Cooper, to make a startling observation:
Maybe radical right-wing and left-wing movements are the same crowd, just under different banners.
Sibarium suggests a few reasons for this:
- Both authors maintain that liberal democracy succumbs to inherent contradictions
- Both argue that we need to resist some power (white supremacy or the EU)
- Both have strong words for their perceived enemies
Do You Really Want to Go There?
Liberalism has many critics (does the name Patrick Deneen sound familiar?), and our free society falls short in many ways. But Sibarium raises a fair question: Would you want to live in the kind of society advocated for by either Legutko or Cooper?
Read this essay and find out for yourself.
|
|
CATEGORY: POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (30 min)
Words like great and greatness evoke complicated emotions.
To many people, they sound like thinly veiled supremacy. To others, they sound like virtues lost.
So What Does Great Even Mean?
And should we strive for it?
For Tocqueville, greatness was critical to sustaining democracy—because greatness came from individuals, not faceless masses.
In this week’s archived lecture, we’re sitting at the feet of Harvard professor Harvey C. Mansfield. Pick up this lecture around 06:00 to learn Tocqueville’s rich understanding of greatness and how it can save democracy.
|
|
Who We Are, What We Do
Most thoughtful college students are sick of getting a shallow education in which too many viewpoints are shut out. We teach you the principles of liberty and plug you into a vibrant intellectual community so that you get the collegiate experience you hunger for.
Are you looking for an education and a community dedicated to preserving the principles and ideas worth saving? Learn more and get started with ISI today!
|
|
|
|
