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Science in Literature: Reflections on the Social Constructs of Science in Society
Course: OEAS/ENMA 795/895 Advanced/Special Topics (three credits);
Course title: Science in literature: reflections on the social constructs of science in society;
Instructors: Dr. Hans-Peter Plag, Dr. Michelle Covi, Michelle Heart;
Term: Fall 2014.
Science in Literature: Reflections on the Social Constructs of Science in Society
Course: OEAS/ENMA 795/895 Advanced/Special Topics (three credits)
Teachers: Dr. Hans-Peter Plag, Dr. Michelle Covi, Michelle Heart
Notes Week 1: Intro to class, syllabus, homework (reading & discussion board), assignments; Burkian analysis
- Opening with NAOMI ORESKES TED Video (see also here) viewing and follow-up discussion:
- Organized scrutiny & collective distrust & skepticism
- Jury of geeks
- ‘Science does appeal to authority but not the authority of the individual scientist.’
- ‘Trust in science should not be blind but based on evidence.’ Becoming better communicators of science then should not only be about communicating what we know but also how we know.
- Brief mentioning of Oreskes’ books: Merchants of Doubt & The Collapse of Western Civilization
- KENNETH BURKE
- 20th century American Philosopher & Literary Theorist
- Had impact on 20tieth century philosophy, aesthetics, criticism, and rhetorical theory
- Non traditional & Challenged orthodoxy
- Best known by his analyses based on nature of knowledge.
- One of the firsts who strayed away from the traditional rhetoric. Viewed literature as symbolic action
- He was unorthodox, concerning himself not only with literary texts but with the elements of the text that interacted with the audience, social historical background, and author biography
- Dropped out of Columbia University (found the learning environment constraining & refused to be pigeonholed). Has no college degree & self-made scholar (lectured in Universities)
- Burke’s political engagement evident — “A Grammar of Motives” takes as its epigraph, ad bellum purificandum (toward the purification of war)
- Social content of language reduced to pure logical reason -Burke’s “identification” parallels Aristotle’s rhetorical concepts (ethos, pathos, logos)
- Burke’s definition of humanity: “Man” is the symbol using, making, and mis-using animal, inventor of the negative, separated from his natural condition by instruments of his own making, goaded by the spirit of hierarchy, and rotten with perfection.”
- “Significant cause of human problem,” according to Burke: “Symbols using human beings rather than humans using symbols.”
- BURKE’S DRAMATIC PENTAD:
- Inviting one to consider the true matter of motives in a perspective, being developed from the analysis of drama, treats language and thought primarily as thoughts of action.
- A BURKEAN ANALYSIS (using PENTAD) of ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S 2nd Inauguration Speech:
Opening:
Agent Lincoln Scene Second Inaugural Address Agency Speech Act Equating the plights of both, South & North Purpose Reunification of the North and the South 
Change:
Agent God Scene U.S. Civil War Agencies North & South Act Terrible War Purpose Abolishing slavery Lincoln’s “motive” is to unite the country by making “God” the agent who willed it as a punishment for both sides and to abolish slavery.
- Equated the blame: Agents can be responsible while agencies cannot. Therefore, blame it on God’s will.
- Fatalism
- The offenses must come
- PENTAD is grounded in dramatic method, which considers human communication as a form of action (Burke’s device for analyzing language as symbolic action).
- Terministic Screen: Burke defines the concept as “a screen composed of terms through which humans perceive the world, and that direct attention away from some interpretations and toward others.”