ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the discourse in Radical Sociology of School Knowledge (RSSK) and describes what ground radical sociologies of school knowledge engage in specifically scientific struggles. The notion that scientific discourse is a form of rhetoric has origins in many disciplines, one of which is the study of rhetoric itself, and has been suggested partially as one way of relating competing knowledge claims. The most significant difference between the philosophical rhetoric of demonstration and the scientific rhetoric of evidence lies in the way in which each rhetorical mode constructs authority. In the philosophical rhetoric of demonstration, authority lies in the positions of the author, the speaker; whereas, in the scientific rhetoric of evidence authority is dispersed if "evidence" is explicitly framed and deconstructed. The chapter concludes by distinguishing sociological understanding of science from more philosophical arguments and close with one last observation about RSSK.
