Contents -- Preface -- 1. Inspiring Interdisciplinarity -- Texts That Seek to Catalyze Community: An Unexamined Genre of Science -- The Close Textual-Intertextual Analysis: Combining Rhetorical Criticism and Historical Research -- I. Theodosius Dobzhansky's Genetics and the Origin of Species -- 2. The Initiator of the Evolutionary Synthesis: Historians and Scientist Weigh In -- Conflict between Disciplines and Theories -- The Evolutionary Synthesis -- What Launched the Synthesis? -- The Influence of Dobzhansky's Genetics and the Origin of Species -- Prelude to a Rhetorical Reading -- 3. A Text Rhetorically Designed to Unite Competing Fields -- Simplifying Theory -- Surveying the Results of Research -- Using Language That Promotes Conceptual Change -- Addressing Social Concerns -- Conclusions -- II. Erwin Schrod̈inger's What Is Life? The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell -- 4. The "Uncle Tom's Cabin" of the Molecular Biology Revolution: Assessing the Place of a Text in History -- The Influence of Schro ̈dinger's Text -- The Value of Untrue, Unoriginal Science -- Other Laws of Physics -- Prelude to a Rhetorical Reading -- 5. A Text Rhetorically Designed to Negotiate Different Interests and Beliefs -- Comparison with Other Attempts at Inspiring Interdisciplinary Work -- Negotiating Common Ground: The Value of Precision -- Negotiating Professional Goals: The Appeal to Ambition -- Negotiating Disciplinary Linguistic Practices: Conceptual Chiasmus -- Negotiating Ideological Commitments: Strategic Ambiguity -- Conclusions -- III. Edward O. Wilson's Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge -- 6. The Controversy over Sociobiology: Scholars Offer Conflicting Explanations -- Wilson's Purpose -- The Effect of Wilson's Interdisciplinary Appeals -- Explanation 1: Wilson Is Wrong -- The Cultural Divide Should Not Be Bridged.

Explanation 2: Critics Are Unable to See the Truth Because of Political Bias -- Prelude to a Rhetorical Reading -- 7. A Text Rhetorically Designed to Fuel Interdisciplinary Hostilities -- A Rhetoric of Conquest, Not Negotiation -- An Explicit Commitment to Reductionism -- Equivocation Rather Than Productive Polysemy -- What Wilson's Consilience Could Have Been -- IV. Speaking to Multiple Audiences -- 8. The Genre -- Comparison of Dobzhansky and Schro ̈dinger -- Wilson's Participation in the Genre -- 9. Contributions to Four Ongoing Conversations -- Rhetoric of Science -- Rhetorical Inquiry -- History of Science -- Interdisciplinarity -- Bibliography -- Index.