An Inquiry Into Modes of Existence : An Anthropology of the Moderns

In this new book, Bruno Latour offers answers to questions raised in We Have Never Been Modern, a work that interrogated the connections between nature and culture. If not modern, he asked, what have we been, and what values should we inherit? Over the past twenty-five years, Latour has developed a research protocol different from the actor-network theory with which his name is now associated - a research protocol that follows the different types of connectors that provide specific truth conditions. These are the connectors that prompt a climate scientist challenged by a captain of industry to appeal to the institution of science, with its army of researchers and mountains of data, rather than to "capital-S Science" as a higher authority. Such modes of extension - or modes of existence, Latour argues here - account for the many differences between law, science, politics, and other domains of knowledge. Though scientific knowledge corresponds to only one of the many possible modes of existence Latour describes, an unrealistic vision of science has become the arbiter of reality and truth, seducing us into judging all values by a single standard. Latour implores us to recover other modes of existence in order to do justice to the plurality of truth conditions that Moderns have discovered throughout their history. This systematic effort of building a new philosophical anthropology presents a completely different view of what Moderns have been, and provides a new basis for opening diplomatic encounters with other societies at a time when all societies are coping with ecological crisis. -- from book jacket Overview In this new book, Bruno Latour offers answers to questions raised in We Have Never Been Modern, a work that interrogated the connections between nature and culture. If not modern, he asked, what have we been, and what values should we inherit? Over the past twenty-five years, Latour has developed a research protocol different from the actor-network theory with which his name is now associated--a research protocol that follows the different types of connectors that provide specific truth conditions. These are the connectors that prompt a climate scientist challenged by a captain of industry to appeal to the institution of science, with its army of researchers and mountains of data, rather than to "capital-S Science" as a higher authority. Such modes of extension--or modes of existence, Latour argues here--account for the many differences between law, science, politics, and other domains of knowledge. Though scientific knowledge corresponds to only one of the many possible modes of existence Latour describes, an unrealistic vision of science has become the arbiter of reality and truth, seducing us into judging all values by a single standard. Latour implores us to recover other modes of existence in order to do justice to the plurality of truth conditions that Moderns have discovered throughout their history. This systematic effort of building a new philosophical anthropology presents a completely different view of what Moderns have been, and provides a new basis for opening diplomatic encounters with other societies at a time when all societies are coping with ecological crisis In this new book, Bruno Latour offers answers to questions raised in We Have Never Been Modern , a work that interrogated the connections between nature and culture. If not modern, he asked, what have we been, and what values should we inherit? Over the last twenty-five years, Latour has developed a research protocol different from the actor-network theory with which his name is now associateda research protocol that follows the different types of connectors that provide specific truth conditions. These are the connectors that prompt a climate scientist challenged by a captain of industry to appeal to the institution of science, with its army of researchers and mountains of data, rather than to capital-S Science as a higher authority. Such modes of extensionor modes of existence, Latour argues hereaccount for the many differences between law, science, politics, and other domains of knowledge. Though scientific knowledge corresponds to only one of the many possible modes of existence Latour describes, an unrealistic vision of science has become the arbiter of reality and truth, seducing us into judging all values by a single standard. Latour implores us to recover other modes of existence in order to do justice to the plurality of truth conditions that Moderns have discovered throughout their history. This systematic effort of building a new philosophical anthropology presents a completely different view of what Moderns have been, and provides a new basis for opening diplomatic encounters with other societies at a time when all societies are coping with ecological crisis. Contents 8 To The Reader: User's Manual for the Ongoing Collective Inquiry 20 Acknowledgments 24 Overview 26 Introduction: Trusting Institutions Again? 30 Part 1: How To Make an Iquiry into the Modes of Existence of the Moderns Possible 54 Chapter 1. Defining the Object of Inquiry 56 Chapter 2. Collecting Documents for the Inquiry 76 Chapter 3. A Perilous Change of Correspondence 98 Chapter 4. Learning to Make Room 126 Chapter 5. Removing Some Speech Impediments 152 Chapter 6. Correcting a Slight Defect in Construction 180 Part 2: How to Benefit from the Pluralism of Modes of Existence 208 Chapter 7. Reinstituting The Beings of Metamorphosis 210 Chapter 8. Making the Beings of Technology Visible 236 Chapter 9. Situating the Beings of Fiction 262 Chapter 10. Learning to Respect Appearances 288 Conclusion, part two: Arranging the Modes of Existence 312 Part 3: How to Redefine the Collectives 322 Chapter 11. Welcoming The Beings Sensitive To The Word 324 Chapter 12. Invoking the Phantoms of the Political 356 Chapter 13. The Passage of Law and Quasi Subjects 386 Chapter 14. Speaking of Organization in its Own Language 410 Chapter 15. Mobilizing the Beings of Passionate Interest 442 Chapter 16. Intensifying The Experience of Scruples 472 Conclusion: Can We Praise the Civilization to Come? 504 Over the past twenty-five years, Bruno Latour developed a research protocol different from the actor-network theory with which his name is now associated - a research protocol that follows the different types of connectors that prompt a climate scientist challenged by a captain of industry to appeal to the institution of science, with its army of researchers and mountains of data, rather than to "capital-S Science" as a higher authority. Such modes of extension - or modes of existence, Latour argues here - account for the many differences between law, science, politics, and other domains of knowledge In a new approach to philosophical anthropology, Bruno Latour offers answers to questions raised in We Have Never Been Modern: If not modern, what have we been, and what values should we inherit? An Inquiry into Modes of Existence offers a new basis for diplomatic encounters with other societies at a time of ecological crisis.