Shaping Science with Rhetoric: The Cases of Dobzhansky, Schrodinger, and Wilson Book

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 Scientists 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

3. A Text Rhetorically Designed to Unite Competing Fields
-Simplifying Theory
-Surveying the Results of Research
-Using Language That Promotes Conceptual Change
-Addressing Social Concerns
-Conclusions

II. Erwin Schrödinger'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 Schrödinger'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

6. The Controversy over Sociobiology: Scholars Offer Competing Explanations
-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 Schrödinger
-Wilson's Participation in the Genre

9. Contributions to Four Ongoing Conversations
-Rhetoric of Science
-Rhetorical Inquiry
-History of Science
-Interdisciplinarity

Bibliography
Index