Cloth: 978-0-226-09906-4 | Paper: 978-0-226-09907-1 | Electronic: 978-0-226-09908-8
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226099088.001.0001
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ABOUT THIS BOOK
In Shaping Science with Rhetoric, Leah Ceccarelli addresses such questions through close readings of three scientific monographs in their historical contexts—Theodosius Dobzhansky's Genetics and the Origin of Species (1937), which inspired the "modern synthesis" of evolutionary biology; Erwin Schrödinger's What Is Life? (1944), which catalyzed the field of molecular biology; and Edward O. Wilson's Consilience (1998), a so far not entirely successful attempt to unite the social and biological sciences. She examines the rhetorical strategies used in each book and evaluates which worked best, based on the reviews and scientific papers that followed in their wake.
Ceccarelli's work will be important for anyone interested in how interdisciplinary fields are formed, from historians and rhetoricians of science to scientists themselves.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
1. Inspiring Interdisciplinarity
Texts That Seek to Catalyze Community: An Unexamined Genre of Science
The Close Textual-Intertextual Analysis: Combining Rhetorical Criticism and Historical Research
I. Theodosius Dobzhansky’s Genetics and the Origin of Species
2. The Initiator of the Evolutionary Synthesis: Historians and Scientist Weigh In
Conflict between Disciplines and Theories
The Evolutionary Synthesis
What Launched the Synthesis?
The Influence of Dobzhansky’s Genetics and the Origin of Species
Prelude to a Rhetorical Reading
Simplifying Theory
Surveying the Results of Research
Using Language That Promotes Conceptual Change
Addressing Social Concerns
Conclusions
II. Erwin Schro¨dinger’s What Is Life? The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell
4. The “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” of the Molecular Biology Revolution: Assessing the Place of a Text in History
The Influence of Schro¨ dinger’s Text
The Value of Untrue, Unoriginal Science
Other Laws of Physics
Prelude to a Rhetorical Reading
5. A Text Rhetorically Designed to Negotiate Different Interests and Beliefs
Comparison with Other Attempts at Inspiring Interdisciplinary Work
Negotiating Common Ground: The Value of Precision
Negotiating Professional Goals: The Appeal to Ambition
Negotiating Disciplinary Linguistic Practices: Conceptual Chiasmus
Negotiating Ideological Commitments: Strategic Ambiguity
Conclusions
III. Edward O. Wilson’s Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge
Wilson’s Purpose
The Effect of Wilson’s Interdisciplinary Appeals
Explanation 1: Wilson Is Wrong; The Cultural Divide Should Not Be Bridged
Explanation 2: Critics Are Unable to See the Truth Because of Political Bias
Prelude to a Rhetorical Reading
7. A Text Rhetorically Designed to Fuel Interdisciplinary Hostilities
A Rhetoric of Conquest, Not Negotiation
An Explicit Commitment to Reductionism
Equivocation Rather Than Productive Polysemy
What Wilson’s Consilience Could Have Been
IV. Speaking to Multiple Audiences
8. The Genre
Comparison of Dobzhansky and Schro¨ dinger
Wilson’s Participation in the Genre
Rhetoric of Science
Rhetorical Inquiry
History of Science
Interdisciplinarity
Bibliography
Index