Do you think whether the logic of the sentence can stand?

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Why did I get a feeling that both "with properties only sentient beings can posses" and "while sentient beings are stripped of these properties" cannot be compatible?

Context:
In summary, the rhetoric of The Selfish Gene exactly reverses the real situation: through metaphor genes are endowed with properties only sentient beings can posses, such as selfishness, while sentient beings are stripped of these properties and called machines (robots).[3]

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Selfish_Gene

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Type: Question • Score: 3 • Views: 891 • Replies: 7

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@oristarA,

Yea Ori I get the same impression

Furthermore the sentence seems to contain other glitches. For instance, isn't "through" supposed to be "though"

….and tho I'm no linguist, isn't there something wrong with how the sentence is constructed; maybe the "while" doesn't belong

Finally, the ending seems contradictory since robots aren't considered sentient

Are they

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@oristarA,

Quote:

In summary, the rhetoric of The Selfish Gene exactly reverses the real situation: through metaphor genes are endowed with properties only sentient beings can posses, such as selfishness, while sentient beings are stripped of these properties and called machines (robots).[3]

I think "through" is correct, but there should be a comma there, after metaphor.

Through (the use of) metaphor, genes are endowed with properties only sentient beings can posses, such as selfishness; and again through the use of metaphor, sentient beings are stripped of these properties and called machines (robots).[3]

Like when you figuratively call someone a machine because s/he is methodical, tireless, or consistently productive (Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary).

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@Doubtful,

Quote:

I think "through" is correct, but there should be a comma there, after metaphor.

Good one, Df, don't know how it escaped me. Getting old I guess

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@Doubtful,

Doubtful wrote:

Quote:
In summary, the rhetoric of The Selfish Gene exactly reverses the real situation: through metaphor genes are endowed with properties only sentient beings can posses, such as selfishness, while sentient beings are stripped of these properties and called machines (robots).[3]

I think "through" is correct, but there should be a comma there, after metaphor.

Through (the use of) metaphor, genes are endowed with properties only sentient beings can posses, such as selfishness; and again through the use of metaphor, sentient beings are stripped of these properties and called machines (robots).[3]

Like when you figuratively call someone a machine because s/he is methodical, tireless, or consistently productive (Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary).

Rather cool.
Have you read the full context in the link in the OP?

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@oristarA,

Quote:

Rather cool.
Have you read the full context in the link in the OP?

Not the whole thing, just the couple sentences that came before the one you asked about.

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It looks acceptable to me as written. It is pointing out the contradiction in the way the metaphor is structured.

As for the comma, British English is more sparing with commas after transitions and with inverted sentence structure. Slight variation in convention, is all. I'd prefer to see the comma there, but that's because I'm an American English native speaker.

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@FBM,

Quote:

I'd prefer to see the comma there

So would I FBM, but only because I supposed there must be such a thing as a metaphor gene

Besides the omission is inconsistent with the second usage. One would suppose in the convention requiring a comma between "possess" and "such" would call for one also between "metaphor" and "genes"

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Do you think whether the logic of the sentence can stand?

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