Rhetorics and Science: the case of Critical Linguistics

Abstract

This article discusses the relationship between rhetoric and
contemporary science. By proposing the analysis of that
relationship, we will be looking especially at two questions: we
start with a history of the rise and fall of rhetoric, as a result of
its replacement by modern, post-Renaissance science. We go
on trying to argue that the contemporary philosophy of science
shows that the relations between science and politics (as a
branch of rhetoric) are complex due to an alleged inability of
scientists to make political decisions regarding language in a
way that they can be heard and trusted by society.