Resistance

GERMAR RUDOLF, RESISTANCE IS OBLIGATORYly argues in an illegitimately unscientific way only then when usingrhetorical techniques in order to attack not arguments but rather individuals,as I have expounded in my presentation.But in each of my book’s passages adduced by the Chamber the respectiverhetorical technique was used precisely not in order to attackindividuals but rather to expose scientific or logical facts in a drasticway. Whether these rhetorical insertions were sensitive and hence convincingis a totally different question which has nothing to do with theassessment of the scientific nature but only with the persuasiveness ofthe linguistic style as a function of the kind of reading audience.To let the questions of scientific nature depend only upon whetherand to what extent one chooses which rhetorical techniques in order toexpound one’s views is purely arbitrary, indeed it is a dictatorship oflinguistic style and thus has to be rejected categorically.In order to refute Judge Schwab’s allegation that jokes, irony, sarcasm,and other rhetorical techniques are per se incompatible with science,I may quote several examples.There is first of all the column “Anti Gravity” by Steve Mirsky appearingin every issue of the largest semi-popular scientific magazineScientific American, which does nothing else but poke fun at more orless scientific topics with irony and sarcasm. 308Since rhetorical techniques like irony or sarcasm are used virtuallyonly when it is about human relationships, they are accordingly rare inthe exact sciences and in technology. Hence the largest scientific journalScience only rarely comes up with exhilarating expressions, but theydo exist after all, as results from a cursory glance at the 2007 issues. InFebruary 2007, for example, a letter to the editor appeared mocking theabbreviation “et al.” (et alii = and colleagues). 309 And a review articleon the exploration of the evolutionary origins of sexual germ cells, advancedby the developmental biologist Cassandra Extavour (Universityof Cambridge), ended with a quote from geneticist Adam Wilkins, editorof the journal Bioessays: 310“[…] Extavour’s investigations […] will draw others to probe theevolution of germ cells and reproductive systems. The topic, Wilkinslaughs, ‘will become, I can’t resist saying, sexier to study.’”308 For this see the collection of the respective column in Steve Mirsky’s book, Anti Gravity, TheLyons Press, Mai 2007.309 Richard McDonald, “Who is et al.?,” Science 315, 16 Feb. 2007, p. 940.310 John Travis, “A Close Look at Urbisexuality,” Science, 316, 20 April 2007, pp. 390f.347