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Full-Text Articles in Speech and Rhetorical Studies
Owning A Virus: The Rhetoric Of Scientific Discovery Accounts, Carol Reeves
Owning A Virus: The Rhetoric Of Scientific Discovery Accounts, Carol Reeves
Carol Reeves
No Abstract Available
Establishing The Phenomenon: The Rhetoric Of Early Research Reports On Aids, Carol Reeves
Establishing The Phenomenon: The Rhetoric Of Early Research Reports On Aids, Carol Reeves
Carol Reeves
In the first three medical reports on AIDS which were published in 1981 in the New England Journal of Medicine, the writers' primary rhetorical agenda was to argue that a new medical discovery had been made. A secondary agenda was to offer etiological explanations for the new problem. To establish the new disease entity as deserving serious attention, the writers built a sense of mystery by confronting established medical knowledge about immunodeficiency and emphasizing the inability of modern medicine to diagnose and treat the problem. When they explained the phenomenon in etiological terms, rather than confronting the disciplinary matrix, the …