Welcome to the wiki supporting Rhetoric of Science (English 5674/STS 5424), a graduate seminar at Virginia Tech, for spring 2011.

Course Description
Introductions to the rhetoric of science often begin with a trope — an invitation to ponder the dissonance when commingling the terms 'science' and 'rhetoric'. Seeking to resolve the discord, we begin to investigate our presuppositions regarding the nature of scientific and humanistic inquiry. Our investigation will proceed on an amending historical and philosophical appreciation for the development of rhetoric of science and technology as an academic field and as a site for interdisciplinary research. Initially, we will interrogate a prevailing methodological myth culled from Bruno Latour and Steve Woolgar's Laboratory Life (1979). We will move from the first major publications in the rhetoric of science (e.g., Nelson, Mcgill and McCloskey's The Rhetoric of the Human Sciences, 1987), to breakthroughs in the field (Bazerman 1989, Gross 1990), to the beginnings of the rhetoric of technology (e.g., Miller 1994), to the so-called "science wars" (1996), and to "second wave" rhetoric of science and technology (Ceccarelli, 2001). Finally, in considering "rhetorical reclamation" (Fuller 2003) we will attempt to navigate the Scylla of sophistry and Charybdis of scientific controversy.