scholarly journals Investigating Ethos and Pathos in Scientific Truth Claims in Public Discourse

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Simon
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The Public ◽  
Rhetorical Patterns ◽  
Truth Claims ◽  
Scientific Competence ◽  
Scientific Truth ◽  
Neonicotinoid Pesticides ◽  
Knowledge Claims

The article seeks to explore the role played by the rhetorical modes of ethos and pathos when scientific knowledge is constructed in public discourse. A case study is presented on the public debate in Germany on possible risks to bees from neonicotinoid pesticides, focusing especially on a detailed analysis of scientific knowledge claims found in texts produced by two lobbying groups involved. The findings indicate distinctive rhetorical patterns in the context of scientific truth claims realising, for example, appeals to concern and the display of scientific competence and integrity.

Flexible Interpretations of “Acid Rain” and the Construction of Scientific Uncertainty in Political Settings

1994 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen C. Zehr
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Acid Rain ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Scientific Uncertainty ◽  
Social Studies Of Science ◽  
Social Settings ◽  
Scientific Papers ◽  
Knowledge Claims ◽  
Interpretative Flexibility

Much research in social studies of science addresses scientists' interpretative flexibility in the construction of scientific knowledge. This flexibility is readily visible among different scientists' competing knowledge-claims as well as in their accounts across different social settings. This article illustrates this process and discusses some of its implications through a case study of descriptions of acid rain in published scientific papers and Congressional testimony. As acid rain was flexibly reconstructed in Congressional testimony, its meanings and implications for control legislation became more contested. Some descriptions of acid rain that were intended to usefully clarify the phenomenon actually contributed to an impression of scientific uncertainty, and thereby further polarized debate.

scholarly journals Political Participation by Political Bloggers in Hong Kong: A Case Study of the 2014 Umbrella Movement

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-166
Author(s):  
Waikeung Tam
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Political Action ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Blogs ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Websites ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
Political Blog

Political blogs have played an increasingly more important role in Hong Kong politics. However, research on this topic remains scarce. This analysis examines how political bloggers in Hong Kong used their blogs to participate in politics through a detailed content analysis of 960 political blog articles published on two major news websites – House News Bloggers and Speak Out HK – during the 2014 Umbrella Movement. This study found that “soapbox” stood out as the most popular function hereof, as political bloggers on both ends of the political spectrum actively used their blogs to influence the legitimacy of the Umbrella Movement in the public discourse. A substantial number of blog articles from House News Bloggers also included the functions of “transmission belt,” “informing readers,” and “mobilising political action.” Finally, only a small proportion of the articles from House News Bloggers and Speak Out HK included the function of “conversation starter.”

scholarly journals DISCIPLINES AND THE CATEGORIZATION OF SCIENTIFIC TRUTH

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-37
Author(s):  
Eyal Bar-haim
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
General Audience ◽  
Analysis Techniques ◽  
Psychology And Economics ◽  
Or Economics ◽  
Scientific Truth

For the general audience, Wikipedia is considered the source of “truth,” especially for scientific knowledge. While studies of Wikipedia usually focus around the accuracy of the knowledge within it, few studies have explored its hierarchy and categorization. This study aims to describe how scientific information is organized into disciplines in Wikipedia. I take as a case study the Hebrew Wikipedia () and examine the representation and interrelations of five social sciences: sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, and psychology. I gather data from Wikipedia entries categorized under each of these disciplines and create a network that contains categories and subcategories derived from these entries. Using network analysis techniques, I estimate the strength of the relations between the disciplines. I find that while sociology, anthropology, and political science are strongly linked to each other, psychology and economics are relatively isolated. An interesting case is the distance between economics and sociology, since under the subcategory “Inequality,” the entries are uniquely categorized under sociology or economics but rarely under both categories. I claim this is an example of a fractal walk in the distinction between the two disciplines. As there is a hierarchical difference between these disciplines, the end result is a hierarchical value of the scientific knowledge presented in these Wikipedia entries.

‘Natural’ No More?

2018 ◽  
pp. 185-209
Author(s):  
Ravi Agarwal
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Flood Plains ◽  
The Public ◽  
Face Threats ◽  
River Yamuna ◽  
The City ◽  
Indian Cities

Rivers in fast-changing and expanding Indian cities have become contested natural features. Though central to such human settlements for long, which have depended on them for water security, livelihoods, biodiversity and cultural life, more recently they face threats from new urbanization of their flood plains, water pollution, and loss of biodiversity as the city encroaches upon them. Based on a case study of the river Yamuna flowing through the mega city of Delhi, the article brings forth the limited understanding of such natural features in urban planning and the public discourse in general. It explores in detail the changing landscape, its implication on the long-term sustainability and the wider implications of their destruction in urban settings.

New Forms of Subjectivity: Theorizing the Relational Self with Foucault and Alcoff

Hypatia ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 804-825 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin C. Tarver
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
United States Supreme Court ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Relational Self ◽  
The Public ◽  
Latina Woman ◽  
Further Development

Taking seriously Linda Martín Alcoff's suggestion that we reevaluate the extent to which poststructuralist articulations of the subject are truly socially constituted, as well as the centrality of Latina identity to her own account of such constitution, I argue that the discussion Alcoff and other Latina feminists offer of the experience of being Latina in North America is illustrative of the extent to which the relational and globally situated constitution of subjects needs further development in many social‐constructionist accounts of selfhood. I argue, however—contra Alcoff—that Michel Foucault's mode of investigating subjectivation, particularly as it is articulated in his later work, has room for just such an account, especially when it is supplemented by postcolonial theory. With this end in mind, I take as a case study the public discourse surrounding Sonia Sotomayor prior to her confirmation as the first Latina woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court, suggesting that an analysis of this discourse (including its position within and contribution to wider discourses of ethnicity, race, gender, and class) shows why the accounts of relational subject‐constitution offered by both Foucault and Alcoff are indispensable.

scholarly journals Bias and Misrepresentation of Science Undermines Productive Discourse on Animal Welfare Policy: A Case Study

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1118
Author(s):  
Kelly Jaakkola ◽  
Jason N. Bruck ◽  
Richard C. Connor ◽  
Stephen H. Montgomery ◽  
Stephanie L. King
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Word Choice ◽  
Killer Whales ◽  
True State ◽  
In Captivity

Reliable scientific knowledge is crucial for informing legislative, regulatory, and policy decisions in a variety of areas. To that end, scientific reviews of topical issues can be invaluable tools for informing productive discourse and decision-making, assuming these reviews represent the target body of scientific knowledge as completely, accurately, and objectively as possible. Unfortunately, not all reviews live up to this standard. As a case in point, Marino et al.’s review regarding the welfare of killer whales in captivity contains methodological flaws and misrepresentations of the scientific literature, including problematic referencing, overinterpretation of the data, misleading word choice, and biased argumentation. These errors and misrepresentations undermine the authors’ conclusions and make it impossible to determine the true state of knowledge of the relevant issues. To achieve the goal of properly informing public discourse and policy on this and other issues, it is imperative that scientists and science communicators strive for higher standards of analysis, argumentation, and objectivity, in order to clearly communicate what is known, what is not known, what conclusions are supported by the data, and where we are lacking the data necessary to draw reliable conclusions.

scholarly journals Language and Hate Speech Aspects in the Public Sphere Case Study: Republic of Macedonia

SEEU Review ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-96
Author(s):  
Agim Poshka
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
Language Usage ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Figures ◽  
Legal Perspective ◽  
Egalitarian Society ◽  
The Public Sphere

Abstract The issue of hate speech is widely present in the Balkan Peninsula and although it has a serious impact in inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations, it has never been addressed properly by the academia or the judicial systems. This paper aims to outline the main principles that define hate speech from the linguistic and legal perspective. Throughout the paper several international cases of hate speech are cited along with the measures that western European countries take in order to minimize the level of stereotypes and public discrimination. In the second part, the paper brings examples from degrading hate speech cases coming from public figures in Macedonia. In addition, a few comparative cases from the international practice have been cited in order to perceive if an egalitarian society is possible in Macedonia from the aspect of language usage without the hatred constituents by aiming to develop an acceptable public discourse for all.

scholarly journals Die behauptete und die gelebte Migrationskrise: der widersprüchliche Fall Italien

2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 303-314
Author(s):  
Felicitas Hillmann
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The Public ◽  
Migration System ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
Refugee Issues ◽  
European Migration

Abstract. Italy, situated prominently middle of the Mediterranean Sea, has been confronted with migration and refugee issues for a long time. Within the European migration system it is a telling example of the way the issue of migration is dealt with more generally. After a prolonged phase of ignoring the existing exigencies of integration and regulation of the already present migrants on the territory, the country experienced a peak of arrivals of migrants on its coastlines in 2015/16. Since then, numbers of in-migration have been decreasing. Still, in the public discourse the idea of an invasion, e.g. mass immigration, continues. For many years the SPRAR system had contributed to tackling a situation of crisis by involving civil society and by reaching out for solutions beyond management. The article emphasizes that the migration crisis can be understood only when taking into account different realities and expectations. It further presents the case study of Genoa. Here, the crisis is mastered by normalisation and local action.

scholarly journals Prophetic witness and public discourse in European societies – a German perspective

2010 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinrich Bedford-Strohm
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
The Public ◽  
Protestant Churches ◽  
Pluralistic Societies ◽  
Prophetic Witness ◽  
The Church

The role of prophetic witness of the churches in the public discourse of modern civil societies is analysed on the basis of three public memorandums of the German Protestant churches on economic questions and their impact on the public. Among the ten systematic conclusions which are drawn from this case study is the importance of the specific context for the role of prophetic statements. The article tries to show how prophetic witness is a necessary element of a public theology, which is not based on fundamental criticism, but develops both critical and constructive perspectives for politics and society. If such public theology is liberation theology for a democratic society it is the task of the church to get involved in the public debate in a ‘bilingual’ way, that is, on the basis of its biblical-theological sources but at the same time with the ability to engage in the secular language of pluralistic societies.

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