Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jan 2012

“No One Yet Knows What the Ultimate Consequences May Be”: How Rachel Carson Transformed Scientific Uncertainty Into a Site for Public Participation in Silent Spring

Kenny Walker University of Arizona ; Lynda Walsh University of Nevada, Reno

Abstract

This article examines Rachel Carson’s assimilation and revision of scientific uncertainty in her sources, annotations, and drafts for Silent Spring. It argues that Carson’s emphasis on the special topos of uncertainty was not an original invention but instead was Carson’s contribution to an ongoing scientific and political conversation about uncertainty in 1962. Carson transformed this topos into a bridge across the is–ought divide in science-related policy making, using the uncertainty topos to invite the public to participate by supplying fears and values that would warrant proposals for limiting pesticide use. Carson’s adaptation of scientific uncertainty to environmental policy making provides a historical precedent for contemporary invocations of scientific uncertainty in debates surrounding global warming, nuclear power, cancer studies, and Gulf oil drilling. The methods that the authors use to trace the development of this special topos can also serve as a pattern for excavating the histories of other pivotal topoi in the rhetoric of American science and environmental policy.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2012-01-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651911421122
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Topics
rhetorical criticism revision
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (9)

  1. Campeau (2022)
    Vaccination Double Bind: A Study of Pregnancy and COVID-19 Vaccine Decision-Making
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  2. Söderberg et al. (2022)
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  3. Roberts (2020)
    Commonplaces of Scientific Evidence in Environmental Discourses: by Denise Till…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Graham et al. (2019)
    There’s No Such Thing as a Scientific Controversy
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Zerbe (2019)
    Paging Paul Krugman: Toward a Topoi of an Exemplar Public Intellectual in the N…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
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  1. Walsh et al. (2016)
    Perspectives on Uncertainty for Technical Communication Scholars
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Walker (2016)
    Mapping the Contours of Translation: Visualized Un/Certainties in the Ozone Hol…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. DeVasto et al. (2016)
    Stasis and Matters of Concern: The Conviction of the L’Aquila Seven
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  4. Cagle et al. (2015)
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CrossRef global citation count: 22 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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