CONSTRUCTING IRRECONCILABLE CONFLICT - THE FUNCTION OF SYNECDOCHE IN THE SPOTTED OWL CONTROVERSY

This essay examines the spotted owl controversy as a public argument r ooted in conflicting owl synecdoches that conceptualize competing soci al 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 ''represent ational ideographs'' that disallow resolution and maintain conflict be cause the controversy is too significant to resolve. By applying Burke 's view of synecdoche and extending McGee's concept of the ideograph t o 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 mainta in controversy by becoming issues in an of themselves.