TOW #12: The Grand Design, by Stephen Hawking

In The Grand Design, Stephen Hawking synthesizes many of the scientific discoveries of the past century, known as quantum physics, which helps to explain our existence and how everything works on an atomic level. This field of science can be confusing as it doesn’t make sense on a level of common sense, however, it is heavily supported by mathematical calculations. Because of this, Stephen Hawking uses a narrative style of writing, using humor and easy-to-understand language, in order to allow people to grasp this dense content. He also has to continually establish his ethos in order to convince people that these theories are quite possibly the rules of everyday life.

On page 7, Stephen Hawking establishes his ethos right away by acknowledging the counterargument that his theories go against the rules of common sense. He says, “Indeed, like many notions in today’s science, it appears to violate common sense. But common sense is based upon everyday experience, not upon the universe as it is revealed through the marvels of technology.” In the first sentence, he appeals to the people that may try to argue against his theories, but then, he refutes this by explaining that one cannot use common sense to understand them. This tells the readers to have an open mind about this book and to trust that this is backed up by scientific and mathematical proof.

Hawking also uses humorous and easy-read-speech in order to give readers a mental break after reading dense content. For example, he says, “If you think it is hard to get humans to follow traffic laws, imagine convincing an asteroid to move along an ellipse.” Hawking uses this as an aid to help explain the belief that Greek philosophers had, which said that the laws of nature happened with human reinforcement. While this might be hard to understand in modern day thinking, Hawking is able to use this in order to help readers grasp the topic in an easy-to-read manner.

Overall, Hawking is successfully able to establish his ethos and help readers to understand dense and confusing topics using his rhetorical skills. In a world where new scientific research is coming up with theories that go against our current understandings of the world, Stephen Hawking is able to ease us into this new matter with The Grand Design.

Stephen Hawking
(http://www.rescuepost.com/.a/6a00d8357f3f2969e201b7c809f135970b-pi)