Word: thoughtful
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McDowell—who contrasted humans, as reasoning beings, against animals—described the human characteristic of autonomy as the self-government of the mind and “the capacity of an individual to determine her thought or act for herself...
Independent thought processes require the honest assessment of community teachings and beliefs that condition most individuals into a particular mode of thinking, according to McDowell...
...ultimately cultural animals. We are who we are, the language we speak, the notions we entertain, all of these are cultural, the things we do artistically, the things we take in. So to have a class that was so disconnected culturally struck me as very dangerous. I thought: what can I do as a citizen, a citizen of the arts? I decided, well, I’d send him a book every two weeks...
...laughs] God, it’s very generous saying it was impressive. I thought at one point I wanted to go into politics, but I don’t have any art for that. I might have been a teacher. I had good teachers when I was a kid...in a sense, a great teacher does what a great novel does. It gives you a sense of wonder, and you come out of it both entertained—a great teacher makes learning fun—but you also come better because you know more. Hopefully not just in terms...
...When I came to teach Expos and the Extension School, I worked on finishing the book in between teaching and raising a couple of sons. In order to teach Expos, I had to think about the architecture of argument. I thought about the technical aspects of making arguments in order to do creative writing. I had thought these two things were exclusive realms, but it turns out they’re not. I was constantly teaching published stories to the students and having conversations not only with them, but also with myself about writing. I really really really learned...