Drag to turn · the reverse carries the idea
A cabinet of the moderns
Fifteen medals for the foundations.
The Enlightenment struck medals of its own philosophers — a portrait on the obverse, the idea on the reverse, and a motto around the rim. This is that cabinet, made for POL320’s first seven weeks.
Every medal carries one thinker: the claim they actually make, the argument in numbered steps, the misreading that costs marks, the point where the argument is weakest, and the one transferable move you can carry to a text you have never seen. That last thing is the foundation. The rest is furniture.
The Tray
Obverse · the sitter
The skill layer
Seven moves that outlive the reading list.
A medal teaches you a thinker. These teach you a move — the thing you do to a text you have never seen before. Every one of them is doing work in the first seven weeks, and every one of them transfers to the essays.
Assigned together, on purpose
Where the syllabus stages a fight.
Five pairings the reading list sets up itself. Each one is a ready-made comparative essay — and knowing why two texts share a week is most of the analysis.
Strike the medal
The Assay
An assay is the test a mint runs before a coin is issued. Answer two questions on a thinker and the medal is struck — it takes its metal in the tray. Questions are drawn from the claim, the trap, the pressure point and the move, because those are the four things an examiner can actually ask about.