Constructing irreconcilable conflict: The function of synecdoche in the spotted owl controversy

Abstract

This essay examines the spotted owl controversy as a public argument rooted in conflicting owl synecdoches that conceptualize competing social realities for environmentalists and the timber industry. It argues that these conceptions not only represent conflicting realities of the old‐growth forest, but also function as “figurative” or “representational ideographs” that disallow resolution and maintain conflict because the controversy is too significant to resolve. By applying Burke's view of synecdoche and extending McGee's concept of the ideograph to conflicting views expressed in synecdochal form, the essay offers a unique perspective for understanding how controversies are influenced by rhetorical tropes and how such tropes prevent resolution and maintain controversy by becoming issues in and of themselves.

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