There have been many attempts to describe and represent the theory of plate tectonics to laypeople. In the context of a study conducted at the request of a museum, we have tried to determine how the concepts of both geological time and the movements of the plates have been reformulated. After having systematically studied in detail publications aimed at more or less educated readers, we have selected a corpus of twelve articles from nine different magazines or journals. Among the different means of expression used by the popularizers, rhetorical figures constitute a significant resource. Procedures based on analogy (metaphor, comparison, analogical reasoning) were brought together in a single category without differentiating between the figures. This paper proposes a critical inventory of the most prominent figures constructed on the principle of analogy and used to explain tectonic concepts to different categories of reader. This work should help museum curators to choose how they reformulate these concepts.
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References
1.
see also a remarkable study on the development of a visual language for research in the Earth sciences: Rudwick, M. J. S., 1976, The emergence of a visual language for geological science, 1760-1840. History of Science, 14, 149-195.
2.
The French translation of Alfred Wegener's book La genèse des continents et des océans was published recently in a new edition: Wegener, A., 1990, La genèse des continents et des océans (Paris: Christian Bourgois).
3.
and Miller, R., 1991, Alfred Wegener: La dérive des continents. Les cahiers de Science & Vie, 3 June.
4.
Le Pichon, X., 1976, Introduction sommaire à la tectonique des plaques. Traité de Géophysique interne, Vol. 2: magnétisme et géodynamique, under the supervision of J. Coulomb and G. Jobert (Paris: Masson).
5.
On the problem of understanding science using references beyond the boundaries of common sense, see: Farr, R. M., 1993, Common sense, science and social representations. Public Understanding of Science, 2(3), 189-204.
6.
Bachelard, G., 1972, La formation de l'esprit scientifique (Paris: Vrin).
7.
As of 1970, we have counted 278 articles on the vulgarization of plate tectonics or on related topics, in magazines such as: Libération, Le Monde, Le Nouvel Observateur, La Recherche, Pour la Science, Sciences et Avenir, Science et Vie, Science et Vie junior, Ciel et Espace, La Revue du Palais de la Découverte, Sciences Progrès Découverte, Ça m'intéresse, Cailloux, Terre Sauvage, L'Argonaute, Télé 7 Jours, National Geographic, Géo and Time Life.
8.
Gottesdiener, H., Eidelman, J., Davallon, J., and Bergeron, A., 1994, Evaluation préalable de l'exposition sciences de la Terre: rapport final de la lère phase. (Paris: CEREM/URA887/Palais de la Découverte).
9.
Difficulties in communicating the geological timescale have long since been identified. For a description of the teaching methods used to make primary school children aware of geological time, see MEN—Direction des Ecoles, 1990, La géologie; contribution à la définition des modèles didactiques à l'école élémentaire et dans la formation des maîtres (Paris: INRP).
10.
Museographical solutions were considered to other hindrances evidenced by the front-end evaluation.
11.
There is a geological dictionary which gives standard definitions of geological terms. Foucault, A., and Raoult, J. F., 1988, Dictionnaire de la géologie (3rd edn) (Paris: Dunod).
12.
This treatise is interesting for a number of reasons: it was written by an international specialist in plate tectonics who made a major contribution to the formulation of the theory. The treatise was used as a reference for almost twenty years by French-speaking students, PhDs and scientists, and is still used as such despite the progress made since; it was written in the mid-seventies, at a time when plate tectonics was still considered revolutionary in spite of universal recognition.
13.
Schiele, B., and Jacobi, D., 1988, La vulgarisation scientifique; thèmes de recherche. Vulgariser la science, edited by D. Jacobi and B. Schiele (Paris: Champ Vallon), pp.12-45.
14.
see also Jurdant, B., 1993, Popularization of science as the autobiography of science. Public Understanding of Science, 2(4), 365-374.
15.
For information on the general public targeted by vulgarization, e.g. on television, see Fouquier, E., 1987, Petite typologie des préférences en matière d'émissions scientifiques télévisées. Education permanente, 90, 23-38.
16.
Jacobi, D. , 1987, Textes et images de la vulgarisation scientifique (Berne, London: Peter Lang).
17.
on erroneous representation, see: Nussbausm, J., 1979, Children's conceptions of Earth as a cosmic body: a cross-age study. Science Education, 61(1), 83-93.
18.
See also Ducret, F., and Jacobi, D., 1994, Comparaison, métaphore et analogie dans la reformulation de la tectonique des plaques. Quand la science se fait culture, edited by B. Schiele (Montreal: CIRST/Editions MultiMonde).
19.
`Et rose elle a vécu ce que vivent les roses, L'espace d'un matin...' (The rose, it has lived the life that all roses live: the space of a morning...) is a very famous verse from Malherbe.
20.
To go back (in time) is `remonter (le temps)', which is also the opposite of `to descend'.
21.
For the theoretical aspects of popularization, see: Jurdant, B., 1973, Les problèmes théoriques de la vulgarisation scientifique. Thesis, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg.
22.
Aside from the ambiguity produced by these devices, the first one can simply be misleading: plants and animals have always adapted without needing to accomplish fantastical transformations. This is simply the theory of evolution expounded by Charles Darwin in the mid-nineteenth century. Moreover, the term `transformation' (in French, `mutation') used in this context refers to genetic alteration (mutation génétique) which is a very common phenomenon, ultra-quick but not viable in practically all cases. The few successful alterations are found in the bacterial or plant world.
23.
A participant to the evaluation groups asked: `Where will it be possible to live if plates go on moving?' Gottesdiener, H., Eidelman, J., Davallon, J., and Bergeron, A., 1994, Evaluation préalable de l'exposition sciences de la Terre: rapport final de la lère phase. (Paris: CEREM/URA887/Palais de la Découverte).
24.
`Plume' refers to a particular form of thermal instability within a fluid which causes hot matter to rise in the form of a `bubble' fed by a narrow conduit. This is the physical explanation of the hot-spot phenomenon about which the author is writing.
25.
Note that temperature is another physical quantity which is difficult to portray. Adjectives like burning and glowing are here used to qualify temperatures exceeding 1000 C.
26.
A survey of a large number of articles written for the general public (53) came up with 149 different verbs of action (or their noun forms) used to describe the movement of plates.
27.
Cicurel, F., 1992, Pré-visibilité des discours journalistiques; à propos d'un événement catastrophe. Carnets du CEDISCOR, 1, 55-77 (Paris: Université de Paris 3).
28.
See Ducret, F., and Jacobi, D., 1994, Comparaison, métaphore et analogie dans la reformulation de la tectonique des plaques. Quand la science se fait culture, edited by B. Schiele (Montreal: CIRST/Editions MultiMonde).
29.
Jacobi, D., 1988, Le discours de vulgarisation; problèmes sémiotiques et textuels. Vulgariser la science, edited by D. Jacobi and B. Schiele (Paris: Champ Vallon), pp.87-117.
30.
Bachelard naturally pinpointed this obstacle which he termed `animistic'. See Bachelard, G., 1972, La formation de l'esprit scientifique (Paris: Vrin).
31.
Alfred Wegener: La dérive des continents. Les cahiers de Science & Vie, 3 June 1991.
32.
It is known that there is an enormous amount of literature dealing with analogy and metaphor, also in the construction of the sciences. For material in French, see Canguilhem's first text published on this matter: Canguilhem, G., 1979, Etudes d'histoire et de philosophie des sciences (Paris: Vrin).
33.
See also Example 17 and Cicurel, F., 1992, Pré-visibilité des discours journalistiques; à propos d'un événement catastrophe. Carnets du CEDISCOR, 1, 55-77 (Paris: Université de Paris 3).
34.
The isostatic principle was expounded in the mid-nineteenth century by the Britons Pratt and Airy, independently of each other. They suggest that the Earth's crust rests in equilibrium upon a less dense fluid. Airy uses the analogy of a raft made of tree-trunks floating on water.
35.
Gohau, 1987, Histoire de la géologie (Paris: La découverte).
36.
However, they deal with more particular geological phenomena; the general model of plate tectonics is considered of secondary importance. In fact, the geologist writing an article today rather deals with chemical and mineralogical reactions that occur when magma rises in hot spots, or pressure and temperature variations in the accretionary prisms of island arcs, etc. His main intention is no longer to expound or explain plate tectonics theory.
37.
The definition is one of the essential devices of reformulation. It is part of the great tradition of the language dictionary's encyclopaedic vocation. See Rey-Debove, J., 1988, Dictionnaire de langue et définitions scientifiques. Langages, discours & sociétés, 5, Sciences et médias (Paris: Didier-Erudition), pp.189-204.
38.
Note that the total duration of human history is minuscule compared with geological time. Man is only four million years old as far as the hominids are concerned (Australopithecus and Homo), less than 2 million years old for the Homo genus and 120 000 years old for the sub-species known as Homo sapiens sapiens (us).
39.
We would like to emphasize that while writers who are professional scientists may be more sober and thorough than journalists, they do not use very different paraphrastic devices from those used by journalists.
40.
Tarling, D. H., and Tarling, M. P., 1973, La dérive des continents (Paris: Doin).
41.
The title of his thesis was: `La corruption du grand et petit monde, où il est montré que devant le Déluge, l'Amérique n'était point séparée des autres parties du monde.' See Tarling, D. H., and Tarling, M. P., 1973, La dérive des continents (Paris: Doin).
42.
Miller, R., 1983, La dérive des continents (Paris: Time Life); Alfred Wegener: La dérive des continents. Les cahiers de Science & Vie, 3 June 1991.
