Tropes of Politics: Science, Theory, Rhetoric, Action

313 Pages·1998·21.351 MB·English

by  John S. Nelson

TROPES OF POLITICS
RHETORIC OF THE HUMAN SCIENCES
General Editors
David J. Depew
Deirdre N. McCloskey
John S. Nelson
John D. Peters
Tropes of Politics
SCIENCE, THEORY, RHETORIC, ACTION
JOHN S. NELSON
THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS
The University of Wisconsin Press
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Copyright © 1998
The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
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Printed in the United States of America
Lines from "Metaphors of Women," from Antarctic Traveller by Kathy Pollitt,
copyright © 1981 by Kathy Pollitt. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nelson, John S., 1950-
Tropes of politics: science, theory, rhetoric, action /
John S. Nelson.
312 pp. cm.-(Rhetoric of the human sciences)
Includes bibliographic.u references and index.
ISBN 0-299-15830-6 (alk. paper).
ISBN 0-29H5834-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Political science. 2. Rhetoric-Political aspects. I. Title.
II. Series.
JA71.N45 1998
320-DC21 97-36581
ISBN-13: 978-0-299-15834-7 (pbk: alk. paper)
For Connie,
who really cares about everyday politics,
some different kinds of inquiry for better action.

CONTENTS
Introduction: Turning and Turning in the Widening Gyre xi
PART ONE FROM FIGURES OF INQUIRY
Chapter 1 Returning Pluralism to Political Science:
A Programmatic Manifesto for Rhetoric of
Political Inquiry 3
Origins 4
Purposes 5
Politics 9
Problemat ics 12
Ends 26
Chapter 2 Returning History to Political Science:
A Disciplinary Archaeology of Amnesia in
Political Argument 34
Disciplines 36
Presentations 39
Histories 40
Traditions 44
Chapter 3 Turning Underground into Approved Rhetorics:
A Partial Confession from a Scientizing
Discipline 47
Approved versus Underground Rhetorics 51
Confession 54
Propriety 62
Decorum 69
Chapter 4 Overturning Argument in Political Science:
An Apostate Meditation on Disappointments of
Political Theory 72
Detachment 73
Skepticism 75
Reflection 84
Recognition 87
Ascension 92
Reconstruction 97
vii
viii
Contents
Chapter 5 Returning Argument to Political Inquiry: A Mythic
Narration of Models, Statistics, and Other
Tropes 99
How Political Science Lost Its Arguments 100
The Behavior Vanishes 102
The Regression of Political Science 104
How Rational Choice Theory Got Its Paradoxes 108
Tropes, Traps, Tokens, and Detours 111
PART TWO TO MYTHS OF ACTION
Chapter 6 Turning Politics into Words: A Rhetorical Invention
of Evidence and Argument 117
Words, Words Everywhere, and Many a Meaning
to each 120
Not Just Data but Reality 127
The Center Cannot Hold 129
The Play's the Thing 132
Chapter 7 Turning Ideologies into Myths: A Postmodern Essay
in Political and Rhetorical Analysis 135
Analogy 136
Ethos 138
Logos 139
Pathos 141
Mythos 143
Example 147
Chapter 8 Turning Governments Every Which Way but Loose:
A Poetic Experiment in Politics and
Communication 150
Female Metaphors 153
My thing Words 157
Immersing Myths 160
Measuring Humans 162
Dueling Myths 166
Strange Attractors 170
Chapter 9 Turning Deliberations into Debates: A Dialogical
Deconstruction of Senate Rituals of Comity 180
Mis-Stake 183
Myth-Take 185
De-Liberation 188
Oxy-Moron 193
ix
Contents
Right-You-All 194
De-Bait 199
Trad(e)-Ition 201
Chapter 10 Turning Stands into Stances: A Figural Argument
About Forms of Political Action 205
Form and Content 205
Principle and Compromise 207
Thought and Action 208
Making and Taking 211
Being and Doing 223
Fire and Rain 228
Notes 233
Index 281