Arguing to convince: The rhetoric of scientific discourse

Abstract

This paper deals with scientific discourse as a rhetorical discourse from the point of view of the structure of the classical parts of oral discourse (and all kinds of discourse). The role of argumentation in discourse, with the perlocutionary goal of convincing the receiver, is studied as the foundation of the rhetorical nature of scientific discourse. A scientific treatise by Santiago Ramón y Cajal is analysed using the tools provided by rhetoric in order to prove the rhetorical nature of scientific discourse. The main contribution of this paper is to establish the crucial role of argumentation in scientific discourse and to demonstrate its permeation of the entire discourse.