The rhetoric of expertise: E. O. Wilson and sociobiology

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Abstract
In contrast to the “structural account” of scientific expertise, which ties the expert's discourse closely to disciplinary constraints, this essay develops a “rhetorical account,” showing how experts can move fluidly among disciplinary criteria and use paradigms more as strategies than constraints. Wilson, the exemplar here, projects his sociobiology into several discourse frames, each presuming a different audience, purpose, and persona for himself as expert. This shifting of frames has not only enabled Wilson to exert a great deal of influence on the social sciences and public discourse, it has also enabled him to elude disciplinary standards of evaluation.

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