Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

An Orthodox Heresy: Scientific Rhetoric And The Science Of Prions., Carol Reeves Jan 2002

An Orthodox Heresy: Scientific Rhetoric And The Science Of Prions., Carol Reeves

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

A significant theoretical shift in the research community examining a class of terminal, infectious neurological disorders that includes Mad Cow Disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and Kuru was assisted by rhetorical production. The local rhetoric of one laboratory, that of Professor Stanley B. Prusiner, involved first situating an heretical hypothesis within the framework of the orthodox narrative and then audaciously promoting that heresy. Another aspect of rhetorical production in this case involved situating a new language associated with the heretical hypothesis. To promote their new lexicon, the Prusiner team evoked orthodox values of consistency, efficiency, and collective ratification. Eventually, what was once …


The Multiplex: The Modern American Motion Picture Theatre As Message, Gary Edgerton Jan 2002

The Multiplex: The Modern American Motion Picture Theatre As Message, Gary Edgerton

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Gary Edgerton's contribution to "Hark, Ina R. Exhibition, the Film Reader. London: Routledge, 2001. "


Chalk, Talk, And Videotape: Utilizing Ken Burns’S Television Histories In The Classroom, Gary Edgerton Jan 2002

Chalk, Talk, And Videotape: Utilizing Ken Burns’S Television Histories In The Classroom, Gary Edgerton

Scholarship and Professional Work - Communication

Gary Edgerton's contribution to OAH Magazine of History (Summer 2002) 16 (4): 16-22.


Rethinking Mechanistic Explanation, Stuart Glennan Jan 2002

Rethinking Mechanistic Explanation, Stuart Glennan

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Philosophers of science typically associate the causal-mechanical view of scientific explanation with the work of Railton and Salmon. In this paper I shall argue that the defects of this view arise from an inadequate analysis of the concept of mechanism. I contrast Salmon's account of mechanisms in terms of the causal nexus with my own account of mechanisms, in which mechanisms are viewed as complex systems. After describing these two concepts of mechanism, I show how the complex-systems approach avoids certain objections to Salmon's account of causal-mechanical explanation. I conclude by discussing how mechanistic explanations can provide understanding by unification.