Top stories published by Up to a Point in January of 2017

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Top Stories published by Up to a Point in January of 2017

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2017

January

Paulo Henrique Lemos in Up to a Point

Jan 12, 2017

On clichés and political discourse

It is cliché, not plagiarism, that is the problem with our stilted, room-temperature political discourse. It used to be that thinking people would say, with at least a shred of pride, that their own convictions would not shrink to fit on a label or on a bumper sticker…

Paulo Henrique Lemos in Up to a Point

Jan 18, 2017

On learning and self-knowledge

Of all the important pieces of self-knowledge, understanding how you learn is the easiest to acquire. When I ask people, “How do you learn?” most of them know the answer. But when I ask, “Do you act on this knowledge?” few answer yes. And yet, acting on this knowledge is the…

Paulo Henrique Lemos in Up to a Point

Jan 13, 2017

On philosophy and freedom

Freedom does not mean entirely unconstrained movement, and it certainly does not mean acting randomly. We often mistake the very things that enable us to be free — context, meaning, facticity, situation, a general direction in our lives — for things that define us and take away our…

Paulo Henrique Lemos in Up to a Point

Jan 10, 2017

On originality and generalization

Excessive generalization is a temptation for all original thinkers, who are usually in love with their own ideas and who therefore overvalue them. Perhaps novel and unpopular ideas would never win a hearing unless their originators were entirely convinced that they were…

Paulo Henrique Lemos in Up to a Point

Jan 17, 2017

On teachers and (some) students

I vexed my teachers with my precocious reading ability paired with an inability to apply it to anything they deemed practical.

— Patti Smith, in her book “Just Kids”.

Paulo Henrique Lemos in Up to a Point

Jan 16, 2017

On culture, politics and criticism

Anti-intellectualism is virtually our civic religion. “Critical thinking” may be a ubiquitous educational slogan — a vaguely defined skill we hope our children pick up on the way to adulthood — but the rewards for not using your intelligence are immediate and abundant…

Paulo Henrique Lemos in Up to a Point

Jan 19, 2017

On fandom and art

Anyone who would camp out in a tent on the sidewalk for weeks in order to be first in line for a movie is more into camping on the sidewalk than movies.

— Roger Ebert, in his book “A Horrible Experience of Unbearable Length”.

Paulo Henrique Lemos in Up to a Point

Jan 20, 2017

On writing and generalizations

You can’t write clearly without generalizations, and these are mine.

— Nick Cohen, in his book “What’s Left?: How Liberals Lost Their Way”.

February 2017

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Up to a Point

An appreciation of quotes in the English language.

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