Another turn after ANT: An interview with Bruno Latour

John Tresch

Department of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Abstract

This is a review, or preview, in the form of an interview, of Bruno Latour’s forthcoming book,

An

Inquiry into Modes of Existence

. We discuss his intellectual trajectory leading up to actor–network

theory and the pluralistic philosophy underlying his new, ‘positive’ anthropology of modernity.

 http://sss.sagepub.com/content/43/2/302.full.pdf

Keywords

actor–network theory, anthropology of science, Bruno Latour, globalization, modernity,

philosophy of science, speech act theory

Bruno Latour’s work on actor–network theory (ANT) put him at the forefront of a wave

of ethnographic research on scientists ‘in action’ in their laboratories and in the wider

world. Starting with 1979’s

Laboratory Life

, his many books, written independently and

in collaboration, have traced the chains of reference that connect instrumental inscrip

-

tions in labs to factual statements in journals and, eventually, to the laws of nature found

in textbooks. Along the way, he has shown, facts take on increasing ontological weight,

growing increasingly ‘universal’ through extensions of the scale and reach of networks

and alliances between humans and nonhumans. His work has also contributed to rethink

-

ings of modernity, leading scholars to study how scientists, engineers, and their hetero

-

geneous allies have redefined and transformed both nature and society. Compelling,

controversial, and constantly on the move, Latour’s arguments and collective projects

have helped orient many research perspectives in Science and Technology Studies (STS)

over the past three decades, creating bridges between science studies and anthropology,

history, literary studies, art history, and environmental studies; philosophers have also

increasingly engaged with his ideas (e.g. Bennett, 2010; Harman, 2009; Rouse, 1987; as

well as Latour, 2010).

Corresponding author:

John Tresch, Department of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania, 249 South 36th

Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.

Email: jtresch @ sas.upenn.edu