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Bruno Latour stirs things up. Latour began as a lover of science and technology, co-founder of actor-network theory, and philosopher of a modernity that had "never been modern." In the meantime he is regarded not just as one of the most intelligent--and also popular--exponents of science studies but also as a major innovator of the social sciences, an exemplary wanderer who walks the line between the sciences and the humanities.
This book provides the first comprehensive overview of the Latourian oeuvre, from his early anthropological studies in Abidjan (Ivory Coast), to influential books like Laboratory Life and Science in Action, and his most recent reflections on an empirical metaphysics of "modes of existence." In the course of this enquiry it becomes clear that the basic problem to which Latour's work responds is that of social tradition, the transmission of experience and knowledge. What this empirical philosopher constantly grapples with is the complex relationship of knowledge, time, and culture.
List of contents
Contents List of Abbreviations for Frequently Cited Works Introduction 1. Exegesis and Ethnology Studies in Dijon Peguy's Inscriptions The Problem of Repetition Exegeses, Re-readings, Revisions Ideology The Production of Lack 2. The Philosopher in the Laboratory At the Salk Institute Laboratory Reports Guillemin's History High-tech, the Beach, and the Post-structuralists Science as an Agonistic Field The Rhetoric of Science 3. Machines of Tradition Laboratory Life Desks versus Machines History and Construction Take from Science the Idea of Science? 4. Pandora and the History of Modernity Pandora Years The Pasteur Project "Give me a laboratory" Sociology and Bacteriology 5. Of Actants, Forces, and Things Actors and Actants The Politics of Knowledge Irreductionism Interlude with Comte A History of Things 6. Science and Action An Anthropology of Science In the Hinterland of the Texts Great Divides, Large Networks From "Immutable Mobiles" to "Centres of Calculation" Media Studies 7. Questions Concerning Technology The Exegesis of Modernity The Turn to Technology Have We Never Been Post-Modern? Technology - A Mode of Existence The Agonistic Field Strikes Back The Crisis of the Networks 8. The Coming Parliament Assembling Rejoicing Judging Walking Liquefying Summarizing Conclusion Notes Appendix Acknowledgements Bibliography Timeline
About the author
Henning Schmidgen, Translated by Gloria Custance
Summary
Bruno Latour is one of the major figures of contemporary thought. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the Latourian oeuvre, spanning from his early work in the sociology and anthropology of science to his recent philosophy of multiple “modes of existence.”
