Understanding the author’s main points.
Each of you needs to understand both authors’ main contentions. (What is their main point? What is each author trying to communicate to readers?) Understanding the authors’ main points requires understanding not only a short summary of their view, but a deep understanding of their arguments, their sub-points, the evidence and reasoning they bring to bear to their topics. How does Sennett define “craftsmanship”? How does Taylor define “pride”? Why do they believe these are important concepts? How do they understand these concepts? What misunderstandings of these concepts among readers are they trying to forestall, prevent, or correct? What kinds of ethical questions and issues do the authors raise in discussing these concepts? As the course progresses, the more accurately and thoroughly each of you needs to understand, and be able to explain and illustrate in your own words, the main ideas in these texts.
This is why you are being asked to “discuss” them: So you aren’t burdened with developing your understanding—something you must do to succeed in this course—all alone by yourself. Understanding these texts is not trivial. Reading through them quickly once won’t be enough for you to “get them.” Hardly! Each of you will be helping yourself understand these texts by helping your colleagues to understand. Each of you will be helping each other understand as you try, in public, as it were, to develop and articulate your own understanding. You will also be helping each other and yourselves by carefully bringing attention to anything that seems unclear or confusing. (But note that you are expected to explain precisely where your confusion lies, not just say, “I don’t understand X.”) When you refer to the text, remember to mention page numbers.
As the discussion proceeds, and it appears that most everyone has a relatively good grasp of the main points and how the authors explain, expand, and support these points, the class discussion might proceed to critique the authors’ work. It might also start comparing and relating the two books to each other: Is Sennett’s idea of “craftsmanship” compatible with Taylor’s idea of “pride?” How are they related or distinct? Do their approaches to such concepts differ in a fundamental way? (Note, though: We can’t usefully engage in critique or comparison of the texts until we’ve first demonstrated that we’ve got a fairly good understanding of what each text says. So, first things first.)
Books: The Craftsman by Richard Sennett
Restoring pride the lost virtue of our age by Richard Taylor