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The Savants and the Rest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent
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Extract

The scientist and the layman are separated by a void which for more than a century has been occupied by various communication networks. It constitutes the domain of that which, in French, is rather inelegantly termed “la vulgarisation scientifique” and, in English, is known as “the popularization of science.”

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 43 , Issue 169 , March 1995 , pp. 133 - 151
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

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References

Notes

1. Jacques J., Raichvarcg D., Savants et ignorants. Une histoire de la vulgarisation scien tifique, Paris, 1991.

2. Béguet B. (ed.), La science pour tous. La vulgarisation scientifique en France de 1850 à 1914, Paris, 1990. Concerning the notion of "scientific illiteracy" and its various forms see Lucas A.M., "Scientific Literacy and Informal Learning." Studies in Science Education, 10 (1983), 1-36.

3. The failure of comprehension is all the more profound in as much as, accord ing to Michel Serres, Thales may have been at the bottom of the well to ob serve the stars.

4. See Hersant Y., preface to Hippocrates, Sur le rire et la folie, Paris, Editions Rivages, 1989.

5. René Sudre, "La vulgarisation scientifique", Encyclopédie française, Vol. XVIII, Paris, 1939, section 26, pp. 11-13, cited by Poirot-Delpech S., "L'Encyclopédie française", in Vulgariser les sciences 1919-1939, Cahiers d'histoire et de philosophie des sciences, No. 24,1988, pp. 7-14.

6. Jeanneret Y, Ecrire la science. Formes et enjeux de la vulgarisation, Paris, PUF, 1994, pp.110-112.

7. Kant I., Réponse à la question: Qu'est-ce que les Lumières?, 1784, Paris, 1991, p. 43.

8. Jodelet D. (ed.), Les representations sociales, Paris, 1993.

9. Moles A. and Oulif J.M.,"Le troisième homme. Vulgarisation scientifique et radio", Diogène, No. 58, 1967; Jacobi D. and Schiele B. (eds.), Vulgariser la science. Le Procès de l'ignorance, publ. Champ Vallon, 1988; "La divulgation du savoir. Théories et pratiques sémiotiques," Protée, vol. 16, 1988, Chicoutimi (Quebec).

10. Eidelmann J., "Politique de la science ou politique de l'esprit. La genèse du Palais de la découverte," in Vulgariser les sciences. Acteurs, projets, enjeux, op. cit., pp. 53-70.

11. Yoxen E., "Speaking about competition: An essay on The Double Helix as popu larization", in Shinn T. and Whithley R. (eds.), Expository Science: Forms and Func tions of Popularization, Sociology of Science Yearbook, Reidel, 1985, pp. 161-181.

12. Jurdant B., Les problèmes théoriques de la vulgarisation scientifique. Thesis, Louis Pasteur University, Strasbourg, 1973; Boltanski L., La vulgarisation scientifique et son public: une enquête sur Science et Vie, Paris, Centre de Sociologie, EHESS, 1977, 2 vols.; Maldidier P., Les revues de vulgarisation: contribution à une sociologie des cultures moyennes, Paris, Centre de Sociologie, EHESS, 1973.

13. Whitley R., "Knowledge producers and knowledge acquirers: Popularization as a relation between scientific fields and their publics" in Shinn T. and Whithley R. (eds.), op. cit. supra, pp. 3-28. Hilgartner S., "The dominant view of popular ization : conceptual problems, political uses," Social Studies of Science, 20, 1990, 519-539; Myers G., Writing Biology: Texts in the Social Construction of Scientific Knowledge, Madison, 1990.

14. Fabre J. H., "Le Scorpion languedocien" (The Languedocian scorpion), Sou venirs entomologiques, Paris, 1925, Vol. IX, pp. 347-352.

15. Claude G., "Quelques idées … S.D.G.D. sur l'invention et la recherche scien tifique," Bulletin scientifique des étudiants de Paris, Paris, 1923, pp. 3-17, cit. p. 12; concerning Georges Claude and popularization see Blondel C., "Industrial sci ence as a show", Shinn T. and Whithley R (eds.), Expository Science: Forms and Functions of Popularisation, Sociology of the Sciences, Volume IX, Reidel, 1985, 249-258.

16. LaFollette M.C., Making Science our Own: Public Images of Science, 1910-1955, Chicago, 1990.

17. Schaffer S. and Shapin S., Leviathan and the Air Pump: Hobbes, Boyle and the Politics of Experiment, Princeton, 1986. Shapin S., "Pump and Circumstances. Robert Boyle's Literary Theory," Social Studies of Science, 14, 1984, pp. 481-520. S. Shapin, "Science and the Public" in Olby R.C., Cantor G.N., Christie J.R., Hodge M.J.S. (eds.), Companion to the History of Modern Science, London, 1990, pp. 990-1007; concerning the development of the experimental method in France see Christian Licoppe, Eprouver, rapporter et convaincre: une étude du compte-rendu expérimental à l'époque moderne. Thesis, Université Paris VII Denis Diderot, 1994.

18. Darnton R., The Business of Enlightenment: A Publishing History of the Encyclopédie 1751-1800, Cambridge, Mass., 1979.

19. Cochart D., Haroche C., "La République et la science: former les âmes et profes sionaliser la sociologie," in Cohen Y., Drouin J.M. (eds.), "Les amateurs de sci ences et de techniques," Cahiers d'histoire et de philosophie des sciences, No. 27, 1989, pp. 65-78.

20. Langlois C., Poirier J. (eds.), Raspail et la vulgarisation médicale, Paris, 1988.

21. Catherine Glaser, "Journaliste et critique scientifiques: l'exemple de Victor Meu nier," in Romantisme, No. 65, "Sciences pour tous", 1989, pp. 27-36; B. Bensaude-Vincent, "Louis Pasteur face à la presse scientifique," in M. Morange (ed.), L'Institut Pasteur. Contributions à son histoire (The Pasteur Institute. Contributions to its history), Paris, 1991, pp. 75-88.

22. Bensaude-Vincent B., "La science populaire, ancêtre ou rivale de la vulgarisa tion?", in: Protée. Théorie et pratiques sémiotiques, 16, No. 3, 1988, pp. 85-91.

23. Darnton R., Mesmerism at the End of the Enlightenment in France, Cambridge, Mass., 1968.

24. Chertok L., Stengers I., Le Coeur et la Raison, Paris, 1989, pp. 15-37.

25. Condorcet, letter to an unknown recipient, Bibliothèque de l'Institut, MS 876 f., 95-96, cited by Baker K.M., Condorcet. From Natural Philosophy to Social Mathe matics, Chicago-London, 1975, p. 77.

26. Cohen Y., Drouin M. (eds.), "Les amateurs de sciences et de techniques" (The amateurs of science and technology), Cahiers d'histoire et de philosophie des sci ences, No. 27,1989.

27. Petit A., Heurs et malheurs du positivisme. Philosophie des sciences et politique scien tifique chez Auguste Comte et ses premiers disciples (1820-1900), Vol. II, p. 351.

28. Petit A., ibid., Vol. II, Chap. 11 and "La diffusion des savoirs comme devoir pos itiviste," in Romantisme, No. 65, "Sciences pour tous," 1989, pp. 7-26; Bensaude-Vincent B., "La science populaire d'un philosophe," Corpus. Revue de philosophie, No. 4, 1987, pp. 143-167, and "L'astronomie populaire: priorité philosophique et projet politique," Revue de Synthèse, 112, 1991, pp. 49-60.

29. Figuier L., Les Merveilles de la Science ou description populaire des inventions humaines, Preface, Vol. I, Paris, 1867.

30. Perrin J., Radio talk on 1 February 1938, Radio-Paris; archives François Perrin, cited by Pascal Ory, "Front populaire et vulgarisation scientifique," in Vulgariser les sciences. Acteurs, projets, enjeux, Cahiers d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences, No. 24, 1988, p. 46.

31. I. Kant, op. cit. supra, p. 43.

32. I wish to thank Anne-Marie and Bruno Bernardi, Jean-Marc Krouin, and Yves Jeanneret for their comments and suggestions.