On Beyond Living: Rhetorical Transformations of the Life Sciences

by Richard M. Doyle

Book Overview

What do biologists study when they study "life" today? Drawing on tools from rhetoric and poststructuralist theory, the author argues that the ascent of molecular biology, with its emphasis on molecules such as DNA rather than organisms, was enabled by crucial rhetorical "softwares." Metaphors such as the genetic "code" made possible a transformation of the very concept of life, a transformation that often casts organisms as information systems.

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0804727651
• ISBN13: 9780804727655
• Release Date: July 1997
• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.1"