Pour une relecture de la querelle du XVIIIe siècle sur l’inoculation. Analyse des procédés discursifs utilisés par Diderot

This article proposes discursive and argumentative reflections that are particularly concerned with the differences between Diderot and D’Alembert on the question of inoculation, one of the most important subjects of their time. The polemic is articulated around several axes: pragmatic, when it focuses on the modalities of experimentation; epistemological, when it attacks the intellectualism that antecedes mathematical axioms to their benefits for society; personal, with direct accusations against the opponent. The first two parts illustrate the scientific context in which the main ideas arise and circulate, drawing a complex chessboard in which two works by Denis Diderot are focused. The third part, more substantial, studies the discursive procedures used to make more effective the attacks which target the mathematical abstraction of which Jean Le Rond D’Alembert is the leader.