For example, when prayer and priestcraft began to be viewed with suspicion, Plato and Aristotlesuggested ways in which we might hold on to the idea that human beings, unlike the beasts thatperish, have a special relation to the ruling powers of the universe.
This topic sentence provides a transition from the previous paragraph by writing "for example" and citing an example about the claim put forth in the intro paragraph.
And the more we learn, the more we are—or ought to be—dumbfounded
This line reminds me of the podcast we listened to for the asynchronous work, where the doctor says that in the present day he feels that he knows less about the Coronavirus than he did multiple months ago, as the more he learns about it, the more he realizes how little he knows.
bewildermen
As much as scholars and people of high education seem to know all there is to know about our world, I think that on some level we all are constantly trying to learn and reshape our own views.
. Instead, I intend to take a stand in the mi e ° w . i reme a muddle, hoping to confuse the ar^ ^ ent J ^ j ^ a r y toshowisn t really any argument in the first place
This sentence clearly identifies the argument Thomas will make.
realize that while we all believe it exists,it can be difficult to pinpoint its features exactly.
If people are so adamant about there only being one "Standard English", you would think that they would be more unified on what this standard of language entails.
How, she asked, could people be so misinformed about dia-lects?
I think that this question echoes the main reason for Curzan's writing of this essay.
relative worth of dialects is socially determined
key concept, how are we to place one dialect above another?