Galileo’s Rhetoric of Fable

Abstract

In annotations, drafts, and published materials, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) consistently uses fables to ridicule his philosophical opponents’ forma mentis. An analysis of the revisions made to these short pieces argues that the fable was a deliberate rhetorical tool with dual effect: the ability to undercut the validity of intellectual approaches and the appeal to a broader audience. Galileo draws on the traditions of vernacular satire and Latin exempla to provide a subtle manual for how to think, read, and write in the new scientific climate that his work had generated. Contextualized against the more-widely read “Fable of the Researcher of Sounds” from the Assayer (1623), these negatively characterized exempla demonstrate what this article calls a “rhetoric of fable.”