Discourses and Narrations in the Biosciences
1st Edition
Published on 17. August 2011
Book
Hardback
299 pages
978-3-89971-831-7 (ISBN)
Description
Discourses and Narrations in the Biosciences investigates the forms of writing in which scientific claims are formulated and announced. Argumentative strategies, compositional rules, and figurative expressions in communication and narrativization of scientific knowledge are the focus of interdisciplinary contributions by humanities and science scholars.The first part of the book, dedicated to 'Rhetorical and Epistemological Aspects of Science Writing', addresses how scientific pursuits and methods feed into multi-level texts that generate responses within science, society, and culture. The second part, entitled 'Bioscientific Discourses and Narrations', examines popularizations and fictionalizations of science in relation to diversity, deviancy, ageing, illness, reproduction, the evolution of humankind, mathematical models of biomedical systems, and the myth of the heroic scientist.Assessing the narrative impetus and command of literary and meta-discoursive strategies shown by contemporary science writers enhances understanding of the methods and conventions through which the biosciences produce knowledge.
More details
Persons
Editor
Dr. Paola Spinozzi is Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Ferrara. Her research focuses on theories and methods of Interart Studies, ekphrasis, illustration and calligraphy, Utopian Studies, rhetorical strategies and figurative language in scientific discourse, literary representations of scientific theories.
Brian Hurwitz is a family doctor practising in inner London and Professor of Medicine and the Arts at King's College London. His research encompasses narrative studies in relation to medical practice, ethics, law and clinical case reports. He co-convenes the UK's first MA Programme in Literature and Medicine and directs the Centre for the Humanities and Health at King's College, which offers both an MSc and MA in Medical Humanities.
Series Editor
Dr. Elena Agazzi ist Professorin für German Studies an der Universität Bergamo. Elena Agazzi is Full Professor for German Studies at the University of Bergamo. Her latest researches deal with the problem of cultural memory in Germany and Europe in the wake of the Second World War.
Content
Discourses and Narrations in the Biosciences investigates the forms of writing in which scientific claims are formulated and announced. Argumentative strategies, compositional rules, and figurative expressions in communication and narrativization of scientific knowledge are the focus of interdisciplinary contributions by humanities and science scholars.The first part of the book, dedicated to 'Rhetorical and Epistemological Aspects of Science Writing', addresses how scientific pursuits and methods feed into multi-level texts that generate responses within science, society, and culture. The second part, entitled 'Bioscientific Discourses and Narrations', examines popularisations and fictionalizations of science in relation to diversity, deviancy, ageing, illness, reproduction, the evolution of humankind, mathematical models of biomedical systems, and the myth of the heroic scientist.Assessing the narrative impetus and command of literary and meta-discoursive strategies shown by contemporary science writers enhances understanding of the methods and conventions through which the biosciences produce knowledge.>