The primary argumentation strategy, this analysis offers, is inoculation, or the pairing of counterattitudinal content with refutations, thereby weakening the counterattitudinal content, that parallels the medical practice of weakening viral content to be used as a preventative measure against exposure to future stronger forms of a virus.

Josh Compton

The Evidence at Large, published in 1805, is a publication of transcripts of testimony offered before Parliament regarding Edward Jenner’s role and legal rights in developing vaccination protocol, with a preface penned by Rev. G. C. Jenner—Edward Jenner’s nephew. This project engages in a rhetorical analysis of G. C. Jenner’s preface, using inoculation theory—which is more commonly used to analyze experimental data—as an interpretative framework. Key features of inoculation are revealed in G. C. Jenner’s rhetoric, including explicit and implicit threat and conventional refutational preemption. Additionally, this analysis reveals un- or underexplored processes of resistance, including source derogation, attitude confidence, and emotional appeals. Special attention is paid to the unique benefits of using a theory more often used for experimental studies as a guiding framework for rhetorical analysis—putting two epistemologies in cooperation and not in competition. 

Compton, J. (2020, November). Evidence of inoculation theory in The Evidence at Large (1805): Finding an inoculation rhetorical strategy in the Preface to House of Commons’ vaccine inoculation testimony and debate [paper presentation cancelled]. National Communication Association.