Making Science Accessible: A Semiotics of Scientific Communication [Book Review]

Biosemiotics 1 (2):253-269 (2008)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This article serves as a demonstration of how certain models of literary analysis, used to theorize and analyze fiction and narrative, can also be applied to scientific communication in such a manner as to promote the accessibility of science to the general public and a greater awareness of the methodology used in making scientific discovery. The approach of this article is based on the assumption that the principles of structuralism and semiotics can provide plausible explanations for the divide between the reception of science and literature. We provide a semiotic analysis of a scientific article that has had significant impact in the field of molecular biology with profound medical implications. Furthermore, we show how the structural and semiotic characteristics of literary texts are also evident in the scientific papers, and we address how these characteristics can be applied to scientific prose in order to propose a model of scientific communication that reaches the public. By applying this theoretical framework to the analysis of both scientific and literary communication, we establish parallels between primary scientific texts and literary prose

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 103,449

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Philosophy of science for science communication in twenty-two questions.Gregor Betz & David Lanius - 2020 - In Annette Leßmöllmann, Marcelo Dascal & Thomas Gloning, Science Communication. pp. 3-28.
The paradox of scientific expertise: A perspectivist approach to knowledge asymmetries.Hugo Fjelsted Alrøe & Egon Noe - 2011 - Fachsprache - International Journal of Specialized Communication (3–4):152-167.
The Art of Scientific Metaphors.Susan Haack - 2019 - Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia 75 (4):2049-2066.

Analytics

Added to PP
2013-11-23

Downloads
53 (#427,749)

6 months
1 (#1,572,794)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Modern movements in European philosophy.Richard Kearney - 1986 - Wolfeboro, N.H., USA: Manchester University Press.

Add more references