First Level: Paraphrasing a Text, The Revolt of the Masses
In this set of activities you will be both paraphrasing and explicating
the thesis of several classic texts. You will paraphrase each excerpt
section by section, followed by explicating the texts by stating your
understanding of each one in your own words, then elaborating,
exemplifying and illustrating them. In other words, for each of the
texts in this section, you will begin by articulating them in your own
words, sentence by sentence, or in parts, as we have presented
them. Then you will explicate each one at level two.
After writing out your paraphrases in your own words, and explicating them, click on the thinker icon to see our specimen answers. You will first read the text as a whole at the beginning of each section, along with its background information, and then you will find the same text divided into parts for your practice.
After writing out your paraphrases in your own words, and explicating them, click on the thinker icon to see our specimen answers. You will first read the text as a whole at the beginning of each section, along with its background information, and then you will find the same text divided into parts for your practice.
The Revolt of the Masses
Background Information:
In the book, The Revolt of the Masses, thinker and social critic Jose Ortega y Gasset wrote:
There is one fact which, whether for good or ill, is of utmost importance in the public life of Europe at the present moment. This fact is the accession of the masses to complete social power. As the masses, by definition neither should nor can direct their own personal existence, and still less rule society in general, this fact means that actually Europe is suffering from the greatest crisis that can afflict peoples, nations, and civilization... Society is always a dynamic unity of two component factors: minorities and masses. The minorities are individuals or groups of individuals which are specially qualified. The mass is the assemblage of persons not specifically qualified... The select man is not the petulant person who thinks himself superior to the rest, but the man who demands more of himself than the rest... For there is no doubt that the most radical division that it is possible to make of humanity is that which splits it into two classes of creatures: those who make great demands on themselves...and those who demand nothing special of themselves... The mass crushes beneath it everything that is different, everything that is excellent, individual, qualified and select. Anybody who is not like everybody, who does not think like everybody, runs the risk of being eliminated.
Background Information:
In the book, The Revolt of the Masses, thinker and social critic Jose Ortega y Gasset wrote:
There is one fact which, whether for good or ill, is of utmost importance in the public life of Europe at the present moment. This fact is the accession of the masses to complete social power. As the masses, by definition neither should nor can direct their own personal existence, and still less rule society in general, this fact means that actually Europe is suffering from the greatest crisis that can afflict peoples, nations, and civilization... Society is always a dynamic unity of two component factors: minorities and masses. The minorities are individuals or groups of individuals which are specially qualified. The mass is the assemblage of persons not specifically qualified... The select man is not the petulant person who thinks himself superior to the rest, but the man who demands more of himself than the rest... For there is no doubt that the most radical division that it is possible to make of humanity is that which splits it into two classes of creatures: those who make great demands on themselves...and those who demand nothing special of themselves... The mass crushes beneath it everything that is different, everything that is excellent, individual, qualified and select. Anybody who is not like everybody, who does not think like everybody, runs the risk of being eliminated.
Now that you have read the full text above, you will find the same
text in sections below. Write out your paraphrase of each section in
the box provided. Then see our specimen answers by clicking on the thinker icon.
There is one fact which, whether for good or ill, is of utmost importance in the public life of Europe at the present moment. This fact is the accession of the masses to complete social power...
As the masses, by definition neither should nor can direct their own personal existence, and still less rule society in general, this fact means that actually Europe is suffering from the greatest crisis that can afflict peoples, nations, and civilization...
Society is always a dynamic unity of two component factors: minorities and masses. The minorities are individuals or groups of individuals which are specially qualified. The mass is the assemblage of persons not specifically qualified...
The select man is not the petulant person who thinks himself superior to the rest, but the man who demands more of himself than the rest...
For there is no doubt that the most radical division that it is possible to make of humanity is that which splits it into two classes of creatures: those who make great demands on themselves...and those who demand nothing special of themselves...
The mass crushes beneath it everything that is different, everything that is excellent, individual, qualified and select. Anybody who is not like everybody, who does not think like everybody, runs the risk of being eliminated.