Arthur Caplan Discourse

Arthur L. Caplan, in his news article, “Distinguishing Science from Nonsense,” warns the audience about the uncertain economic future of the United States of America due to the abandonment of science within society. Further, Caplan’s purpose is to inform the audience how the dwindling importance of science in children is not only due to schools, but also due to American culture. Therefore, Caplan uses a combination of rhetorical devices to not only warn and inform the public about the importance of science, but to also engage them to an extent that persuades the audience to take action.

Caplan ability to recognize and specifically target his audience amplifies the effectiveness of the article in terms of engagement. In this case, Caplan’s posts his paper in The Chronicle of Higher Education, which is a newspaper targeted to college and university attendees (students, faculty, staff etc.). Therefore, now knowing his target audience, Caplan mentions different types of post-secondary educated individuals in his article, so that the specific audience feels engaged with the article. This is exemplified when Caplan uses the words, “students,” “medical experts,” “scientists,” and “scholars” throughout his

This is achieved through the combination of rhetorical tools Caplan uses through out his article. For example, Caplan’s use of the pronouns POV plays with the audience’s emotions: “we are lagging behind other nations in terms of our children’s scientific literacy.” Caplan writes this in order to make the audience feel like they are losing, thus making them upset or angry. However, when Caplan uses the anaphoric device near the end of the article, it causes the audience to feel like they need to take action and work together in order to secure an economic future: “We need to start thinking outside of our school. We need editors . . . We need scientists . . .