This is a course about the conception, development, and expression of ideas through language. In the final analysis, the course puts front and center the process of thinking about such ideas and then persuading others of their importance and rectitude. Among the issues addressed are: the logic and structure of arguments; the articulation of a “stance”; development of the tone, style and elegance of writing; and the parrying of counterarguments even before they are stated. Students read and analyze a variety of essays on a number of subjects, including, film, domestic politics, cultural issues, war and peace, theatre and fine arts, sexual politics, human relationships, and the training of dogs. Among the authors whose work gets read are Susan Sontag, Simon Schama, Chuck Klosterman, Ellen Willis, Woody Allen, Nick Hornby, Garry Wills, Francis Fukuyama, Joan Didion, Hannah Arendt, Samuel Huntington, and Jean-Paul Sartre. 4 cr, either sem.