La tradition rhétorique du dialogue dans la vulgarisation scientifique

The dialogue is a rhetorical structure used in the description of scientific and philosophical topics, developed in the 15th and the 16th centuries. The present analysis shows the development of dialogues throughout the history of French scientific texts, their purpose being theoretical discussion and the popularisation of knowledge; moreover, it describes the foremost characteristics of a work written in this textual genre. The development of the dialogue as a means of scientific popularisation is described starting from the philosophical dialogue during the Renaissance, which has its origins in the dialogues of the Platonic tradition and in didactic dialogues, and which served to illustrate philosophical debates. The popularisation of knowledge can avail itself of the dialogue, in that it offers several advantages: the writer has recourse to a textual genre, which is more pleasing than those traditionally available to his/her specialist field; the scientist, intellectual or philosopher can digress and return to the subject, and in so doing, avoid difficulties inherent in more austere textual genres. Bernard Palissy avails himself of the dialogue to popularise specialist knowledge in the following works: the "Architecture et ordonnance de la grotte rustique" (1563), the "Recepte veritable" (1563) and the "Discours admirables" (1580). These works exemplify how the dialogue can be used in dealing with subjects as varied as geology, hydraulics, ceramics, and landscape gardening.