Western Civilization I / Unit 18 WC1 1737 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Ability Five: Reading a Passage for Its Assumptions
Captions available
The idea
The hardest stems quote a passage and ask what its author assumes. The method: what the writer wants, what must be true for the claim to persuade, and what the text leaves out. Pericles, Augustine, Machiavelli and Las Casas are the cases.
In practice
The passage's silence is often the answer.
Where people slip
Never credit an author with modern knowledge.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Unlocks
- Nothing yet depends on this.
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it