Articles

Articles

(42)
Postmodern? No Simply Amodern. Steps Towards an Anthropology of Science. An essay Review
1990

In Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science Vol.21 pp.145-171, 1990 (text without the diagrams)

Abstract
Essay review on the books of Shapin and Schaffer Leviathan and the Air Pump, Serres Statues, and Traweek's account of the Standford accelerator; these three books are used to show the limits and interest of an antropology of science that goes beyond the definition of our world as modern.
Translations

1990: Français / French
« Sommes-nous postmodernes? Non, amodernes. Etapes vers l’anthropologie des sciences » , in La Pensée métisse. Croyances africaines et rationalité occidentale en questions Cahiers de l’IUED, N°19, Genève, pp.127-155

1990: Dutch translation
« Postmodern? Nee, gewoon a-modern! Op weg naar een wetenschapsantropologie », trad. Niels Helsloot, Pieter Pekelharing & Baukje Prins, in Krisis, , 40, No.3, pp. 40-73.

Anthropology, Sociology of Science 🔗
(41)
The Force and Reason of Experiment
1990

In Homer Le Grand (editor) Experimental Inquiries, Historical, Philosophical and Social Studies of Experimentation in Science, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp.48-79, 1990

Abstract
Three examples in physics (Archimedes), anthropology (Baudin) and biology (Pasteur) are used to define the new realism that emerges from radical science studies of experiments; an anthropological model is offered as an alternative to the Great Divide. But why was Archimedes so emboldened by his apodictic demonstration that he could move the planet and why was Hiero so amazed by the smaller scale show, impressed (as the text tells us) by the power of technique? Because "some great weight may be moved by a slight force". Is it possible to reverse the age old balance of forces? Can one man become stronger than the multitude? And this not just, ideally, in a thought experiment about going to another planet and moving the Earth, but in practice, on the beach...
Translations

1989: Hollondais / Dutch
« De kracht en de rede van het experiment » in Kennis et Methode, Vol.XIII, n°1, pp.28-62

Allemand / German
« Eine Tatsache ist eine Tatsache » in Von Rüdiger Schmidt und Bettina Wahrig Schmidt (editors) Gesellschaft für Philosophische Bildung, Lübeck, Luciferlag, pp.210-219

Philosophy, Politics, Sociology of Science 🔗
(40)
Clothing the Naked Truth
1989

In Hilary Lawson & Lisa Appignanesi (editors) Dismantling Truth. Reality in the Post-Modern World, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, pp. 101-128, 1989

Abstract
Answers to the objections often raised against the ‘associology’ of science with special stress on the accusations of being immoral, relativist, dangerous, etc.
Translations
No Other Translations Available
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(36)
The Prince for Machines as well as for Machinations
1988

In Brian Elliott (editor) Technology and Social Change, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 20-43 [Republication in Ketit Grint (editor) Reader on Leadership, Oxford University Press, 1996, pp.?]

Abstract
A politics for the control of technology is discussed in reference to Machiavel's book; the impossibility of a clearcut distinction beween social context and technical content is pushed to its limit: a redefinition of politics as the well being of assemblies of humans and non-humans.
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Translations

1987: Hollondais / Dutch
« Doe 'de heerser' te schrijven voor zowel machinaties als machines » Krisis Vol.7 n°1 Mars 1987 pp.42-66

1989: Italien / Italian
« The Prince” of machines » RISESST Numéro 0 pp.1-19

1990: Français / French
« Le Prince: machines et machinations » in Le Futur Antérieur N°3 pp. 35-62 [Reprint of the French translation in Sociologie de la traduction. Textes fondateurs, Presses de l’Ecole des Mines de Paris, 2006 (with Madeleine Akrich and Michel Callon), pp.87-108]

2004: Russe / Russian

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(35)
Mixing Humans with Non-Humans: Sociology of a Door-Closer
1988

In Social Problems (special issue on sociology of science, edited by Leigh Star) Vol. 35, pp.298-310, 1988 (with Jim Johnson). [1995: Reprint in Ecologies of Knowledge - Work and Politics in Science and Technology, Leigh Star (editor) SUNY Press, Albany, pp.257-280. Second republication in Republication in Jujionas Urbonas Talking Doors Catalog Exhibition in Lithuania, pp.60-88, 2010]

Abstract
Outline of the technical regime of enunciation through the semiotic study of simple artefacts like door closers or road bumpers; a vocabulary for the semiotics of technical artefacts is offered.
Translations

2006: Allemand / German
In Andréa Belliger & David J. Krieger ANThology - Ein einführendes Handbuch zur Akteur-Netzwerk-Theorie, Bielefeld, Transcript Verlag, 2006 pp.237-258

Semiotics & Literature Studies, Social Theory, Technology 🔗
(34)
Opening an Eye while Closing the Other. Note on Some Religious Paintings
1988

In J. Law & G. Fyfe (editors) The Opening of the Western Eye, Sociological Review Monograph, Keele, Vol.35 pp.15-38, 1988

Abstract
Outline of the religious regime of enunciation through the study of four religious paintings; the comparison between the scientific representation and the religious re-presentation is illustrated through the work of Holbein.
Translations
No Other Translations Available
Modes of existence, Religion Studies, Viualization 🔗
(33)
The Enlightenment Without The Critique: An Introduction to Michel Serres's Philosophy
1988

In J. Griffith (editor) Contemporary French Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 83-98, 1988

Abstract
Presentation of a few important features of the French philosopher Michel Serres with special stress on his definition of anthropology of science and his critique of epistemology.
Translations

Suédois/ Swedish see Reader CT(ii)

Philosophy, Semiotics & Literature Studies 🔗
(32)
The Politics of Explanation: an Alternative
1988

In Steve Woolgar (editor) Knowledge and Reflexivity, New Frontiers in the Sociology of Knowledge Sage, London, pp.155-177, 1988

Abstract
Methodological article that traces a path between scientistic self-contradictory accounts of science and reflexivists self-destructive accounts of science; pleads for an infra-reflexivity based on new literary forms rather than for meta-reflexivity.
Translations

1996: Italien / Italian
« La politica della spiegazione: un’ alternativa » in Federico Neresini (editor) Interpretazione e ricerca sociologica, QuattroVenti, Urbino, pp.151-182

2018: French/Français
“Politiques de l’explication: une alternative” par Lucas Faugère in Ecritures numéro 10 p. 15-48

Actor-Network-Theory, Social Theory 🔗
(31)
A Relativist Account of Einstein's Relativity
1988

In Social Studies of Science Vol.18 pp.3-44, 1988

Abstract
Semiotics study of Einstein's popular book on relativity; demonstrates the distinction between text and fiction and explores the features of the scientific regime of enunciation; offers a non-contextual sociological account of a theory.
Translations

Suédois / Swedish see Reader CT(ii)

Actor-Network-Theory, Social Theory, Sociology of Science, Sémiotique 🔗
(30)
The Meanings of Social: From Baboons to Humans
1987

In Information sur les Sciences Sociales/Social Science Information Vol. 26 pp.783-802, 1987 (with Shirley Strum) [Reprinting in Glendon Schubert and Roger D. Masters (editors) Primate Politics, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale chapter IV pp.73-86, 1991(with Shirley Strum). Second Reprinting in Julian Thomas (editor) Interpretive Archaeology, a Reader, Leicester University Press London and New York, pp 266-280, 2000

Abstract
Application of the social theory relativistic model to the evolution fo the social link from baboons to humans; reviews the history of primatology and offers a coherent framework for its many debates through the notion of a performative social link.
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Translations

2006: Français / French
« Redéfinir le lien social : des babouins aux humains » In Sociologie de la traduction. Textes fondateurs, Presses de l’Ecole des Mines de Paris, (with Madeleine Akrich and Michel Callon), pp.71-86

Social Theory, Technology 🔗