This paper explores the rhetorical basis of a major paradigm change in meteorology, from a focus on inductive observation to deductive, mathematical reasoning. Analysis of Cleveland Abbe’s ‘‘The Physical Basis of Long-Range Weather Forecasts’’ demonstrates how in his advocacy for a new paradigm, Abbe navigates the tension between piety to tradition and dissent necessary for innovation through the rhetorical imagination of and appeal to a disciplinary telos. This strategy allows him to dismiss the traditions of meteorology while simultaneously creating common ground between a new paradigm and an audience of contemporary scientists whose traditions he rejects.
ON INTERDISCIPLINARY EARTH SYSTEMS SCIENCE and COMMUNICATION (for further study and Implications?)
