Articles

Articles

(87)
The Promises of constructivism
2002

Chapter for a book in Don Ihde (editor) Chasing Technology- Matrix of Materiality, Indiana Series for the Philosophy of Science, Indiana University Press, pp. 27-46, 2003

Abstract
Constructivism is a much abused word. But since Ian Hacking has done a review of some of his meanings, an effort is made to see how it can be rescued from the disrepute of ‘social’ constructivism. Special stress is put on the metaphors of construction and on the models of action implied by its different meanings. An alternative is offered to the classification offered by Hacking and a strong contrast is established between constrcution and deconstruction
Translations

2003: Allemand / German
In Jörg Huber (editor) Interventionen 12, Zürich Edition Voldemeer, pp. 183-208, 2003

Compositionism, Epistemology 🔗
(86)
Another take on the Science and Religion debate
2002

Paper prepared for the Templeton series on Science, Religion and Human Experience, Santa Barbara, California. "Thou Shall Not Freeze-Frame » – or How not to Misunderstand the Science and Religion Debate" in James D. Proctor (editor) Science Religion and the Human Experience, Oxford University Press, pp.27-48, 2005

Abstract
Like other articles (43), (79), this article pursues the comparison between the religious and the scientific regimes of enunciations ; it tries in particular to explore the conditions of felicity of religious talks by distinguishing it from information ‘double click’ and shows that the link between belief and religion is a category mistake ; drawing on some of the iconograpy assembled for Iconoclash, it shows how scientific and religious images differ in the path they establish between successive images.
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2004: Portugais / Portuguese
« Nao Congelaras a Imagem ou : Como Nao Desentender o Debate Ciencia-Religiao », par Amir Geiger in Mana Vol. 10 : n°2 pp.349-376

2007: Espagnol / Spanish
« No congelaras la imagen. O como no desentenderse del debate ciencia-religion », par Carlos Alberto Pasero in Etnografías contemporáneas Buenos Aires, vol 3, n°3, pp.17-43

2009: Repris en livre / Republication in book
(XIII) Duke University Press

2013: Allemand/German
« ‘Du soolst Dir kein Standbild machen’ Oder : Wie man den Streit zwsischen Wissenschaft und Religion nicht missversteht » edited by Julian Müller Fink Verlag, Unbestimmtheit, 2013, pp. 69-90.

Modes of Existence, Religion Studies, Viualization 🔗
(85)
War of the Worlds, What about peace ?
2002

Published as a separate pamphlet in Prickly Paradigm Press, edited by Marshall Sahlins, Chicago University Press, Chicago, 55 p. 2002 (version traduite amplifiée et modifiée de article modified and amplified from ( 81) translated in part by Charlotte Brigg)

Abstract
If one takes seriously the notion of cosmopolitics developped by Isabelle Stengers and the diplomatic work it entails, one is engaged in a rethinking of the link between cultures and natures –now in the plural- ; it is argued here that the extension of nature can no longer count as the diplomatic way of creating a common world ; alternatives are explored including the notion of constructivisme, an unlikely candidate at first, but a good possibility in the end.
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2003: Italien / Italian
« Guerre di mondi, offerte di pace. Ci si può intendere davvero sulla base della natura? » in Agalma n° 4 gennaoio, p. 11-25

2003: Allemand / German
« Krieg der Welten -Wie Wäre es Mit Frieden? » in Peter Weibel and Günther Holler-Schuster (editors), M-ARS Kunst und Krieg, p. 456-486, Graz: Hajte Cantzt, translated by Gustav Roßler. [Republication en livret à part / republication as an independant pamphlet Krieg der Welten – Wie Wäre es mit Freiden, Merve Verlag Berlin, 2004]

Anthropology, Politics 🔗
(84)
What is Iconoclash ? or Is there a world beyond the image wars ?
2001

In Iconoclash, Beyond the Image-Wars in Science, Religion and Art (edited by Peter Weibel and Bruno Latour), ZKM and MIT Press, pp. 14-37, 2002

Abstract
Iconoclasm is when there is a clear intent for the destruction or the demise of an image. Iconoclash is when there is an uncertainty about what is committed when an image –from science, religion or art- is being smashed. The paper presents the rationale and the scene of an exhibit taking place in Germany and which aims at turning iconoclasm –and more generally the critical gesture- into a topic rather than a ressource. It contrasts the different pattern of confidence and diffidence into image in the three contrasted realm of science, religion and art. It offers a classification of the iconoclastic gestures and introduces to the catalog entries.
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2002: Allemand / German
«Iconoclash Gibt es eine Welt jenseits des Blikderkrieges ?», published as a separate pamphlet, Merve Verlag, Berlin, 76 pages.
2012: republication in Josef Fruchtl and Maria Moog-Grunewald (editors) in Zeitschrift fur Aesthetik und Allgemeine Kuntzwissenschaft Vol ; 57, n°1, pp. 19-44.

2003: Slovaque / Slovak
« Co je Iconolash », translated by Michaela Fischerovà , in Profil 34-46 3-03 4 03 26-45 in PROFIL Bratislava

2008: Portugais / Portuguese
« O que E Iconoclash ? ou, Ha Um Mundo Alem Das Guerras de Imagem ? » in Horizontes Antropologicos Antropologia e Arte, 14, numéro 29, Janeiro/Junho 2008

2009: Italien / Italian
« Che Cos’e Iconoclash » in Teorie dell'immagine edited by Prof. Andrea Pinotti and Prof. Antonio Somaini, Raffaele Cortina Editore, Milano, pp. 287-330

2009: Français / French
Repris en livre sous forme de traduction française par Aude Tincelin in (XIII) : Sur le culte des dieux faitiches suivi d’iconoclash, La Découverte, collection les Empêcheurs

2017: Language: Croatian
Translator:Iva Gjurkin
Reference: Misli na izložbi niz eksperimenata u ZKM-u iz Karlsruhea, pp.7-78

Art History, Compositionism, Religion Studies, Viualization 🔗
(82)
Gabriel Tarde and the End of the Social
2001

In Patrick Joyce (edited by) The Social in Question. New Bearings in History and the Social Sciences, Routledge, London, pp. 117- 132, 2002

Abstract
There is a close connection between Gabriel Tarde’s social theory and what has become known as actor network theory, especially because Tarde’s two refusals : there is no difference between natural and social assemblages ; there is no difference between ‘big’ and ‘small’ assemblages in society. Through a reading of Tarde Monadologie et sociologie recently republished, the paper explores the technical innovation of Tarde and their import for actor-network theory.
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2001: Allemand / German
« Gabriel Tarde und des Ende des Sozialen », in Soziale Welt, n°3 , pp. 361-376, 2001 [republication de la traduction allemande republication of the German translation in Christian Borch und Urs Staheli Soziologie der Nachahmung und des Begehrens. Materialien zu Gabriel Tarde, Suhrkamp, pp. 39-61, 2009]

2004: Scandinave / Scandinavian
« Gabriel Tarde og det sociales endeligt », translated by Chirstian Borch in Distinktion: Scandinavian Journal of Social Theory N°9 : pp.33-48, October 2004

200-: Espagnol / Spanish
As a foreword of the translation in Spanisg of Gabriel Tarde «The Social Laws», Editorial Gedisa, Barcelona

2008: Turc/ Turkish
«Tarde ve Toplumsalin Solun», translated by Firat Berksun, Emre Koyuncu P. Burcu Yalim , in Tesmeraksekdiz (toplumsal arastirmalar ve sanat sebekesi) spécial issue on Tarde ve mikrososyoloji, vol 2 n° 03 2008 pp. 34-49

Actor-Network-Theory, Gabriel Tarde, Social Theory 🔗
(79)
Thou Shall Not Take the Lord’s Name in Vain — Being a sort of Sermon in Sociology of Religion
1999

In Res n°. 39 pp.215-234 [includes a section unpublished in English of (43)]

Abstract
The search for the precise caracterization of regimes of enunciation leads to an exploration of different speech-acts. Religious enunciation, in a Christian tradition at least, implies a completely different type of transfer than information transfer, and also a very different one from reference chains. The enunciation structure is exemplified by the very form of a quasi-sermon which allows one to make visible again the distinction between reference-making and person-making. The effects implied by this exploration is as different from theology as reference chains are different from epistemology.
Translations

Translation in Finish by Kimmo Kallio « ”Äla lausu turhaan herrasi nimea.” eraanlainen saarna uskonnollisen puheen epävarmuudesta » in Tiede & Edistysi, vol 2, pp. 159-179, 2012.

Modes of Existence, Religion Studies 🔗
(78)
When Things Strike Back a Possible Contribution of Science Studies to the Social Sciences
1999

British Journal of Sociology, Special Millenium Issue edited by John Urry, vol 51 n°1 pp 105-123

Abstract
The contribution of the field of science and technology studies (STS) to main stream sociology has so far been slim because of a misunderstanding about what it means to provide a social explanation of a piece of science or of an artefact. Once this misunderstanding has been clarified, it becomes interesting to measure up the challenge raised by STS to the usual epistemologies they believed necessary for their undertakings. The social sciences imitates the natural sciences in a way that render them unable to profit from the type of objectivity found in the natural sciences. It is argued that by following the STS lead, social sciences may start to imitate the natural sciences in a very different fashion.
Translations

2003: Russe / Russian
«Kogda veschi dajut sdachi: vozmozhnyj vklad 'issledovanij nauki' v obschestvennye nauki Vestnik MGU» Unauthorized translation in Filosofija'. No. 3/2003, (sur web http://www.philosophy.ru/library/latour/whenthings.html)

Actor-Network-Theory, Sociology of Science, Technology 🔗
(77)
How to talk about the body? The normative dimension of science studies
1999

Symposium edited by Madeleine Akrich and Marc Berg, Bodies on Trial , special issue of Body and Society Vol . 10, number 2/3 pp. 205-229, 2004 [Prepublication in a somewhat different form in From the margins, special issue on “Bodies Beings Genders”, pp. ??]

Abstract
This paper closely follows (74) on articulation and puts the notion to use in the context of a seminar on the body. After defining the body as what learns to be affected, it develops a falsification principle, opposite to that of Popper, and which is extracted from the work of the Belgian philosophers Isabelle Stengers and Vinciane Despret. Once this principle defined, it becomes possible to avoid the usual dualism of the physiological versus the phenomenological body.
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2009: Portugais / Portuguese
« Como falar do corpo? A dimensao normativa dos estudos sobre a ciencia »in Joao Arriscado & Nune Ricardo Roque (editors) Objectos Impuros. Experiencias em Estudo sobre a Ciencia, Edicoes Afrontamento, Porto 37-62

Philosophy 🔗
(74)
A Well-Articulated Primatology -Reflexions of a Fellow-Traveller
1997

In Shirley Strum and Linda Fedigan (editors) Primate Encounters, University of Chicago Press, pp. 358-381, 2000

Abstract
Asked to participate in a reflexion of primatologists on what has shaped their discipline over the past half-century, the paper offers an alternative account to the optical metaphors of biases, paradigms and points of views. It is trying to define an other demarcation criterion which does not rely on what is scientific and what is not scientific, on what is inside or outside, but on the risk taken by the scientists and their objects of study. It is thus an experiment in offering to the scientists themselves an account of « what is good science » that satisfies their own constraints and not those of scientists observers.
Translations
No Other Translations Available
Actor-Network-Theory, Anthropology, Social Theory 🔗
(73)
To Modernize or to Ecologize, that is the Question
1997

In N. Castree and B. Willems-Braun (editors) Remaking Reality: Nature at the Millenium (London and New York: Routledge), pp. 221-242, 1998 (translation and new version of (59) [2007 : Republication of the English translation « To Modernize or to Ecologize ? That is the Question » in Kristin Asdal, Brita Brenna and Ingunn Moser (editors) Technoscience, The Politics of Intervention, Unipub Oslo, pp.249-272.]

Abstract
This paper explores the destiny of political ecology. It is very much influenced by the French political situation and the continuing marginality of the various Green parties. It relies on three different strands. First a very interesting model to understand political disputes devised by two French sociologists, Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot in a book that is not yet available in English (Boltanski & Thévenot 1991). Second, a case study by the author on the recent creation by law of what could be called “local parliaments of water” (Latour & Le Bourhis 1995). Third, a long term project in philosophy to develop an alternative to the notion of modernity (Latour 1993) and to explore the political roots of the notion of nature. The point of the paper can be stated very simply: political ecology cannot be inserted into the various niches of modernity.
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2001: Norvégien / Norwegian
«A modernisere eller a okologisere - det er spormalet »
in Kristin Asdal, Brita Brenna Og, Ingunn Moser (editors)
Teknovitenskapelige kulturer, Spartacus, Oslo pp. 339-361

2001: Portugais / Portuguese
« An ecologica politica sem a natura »
in Projetos historia, n°23, PUC-SP, novembre 2001, pp. 31-44

2003: Finlandais / Finnish
« Moderni vai ekologinen? Uutta oikeutusta etsimässä»
in Gyro Haila Ville and Ladhe Luonnon (eds)
Trei Vastapaino pp. 70-103

2010: Allemand / German
« Modernisierung oder Ökologisierung ? Das ist hier die Frage »
Petra Gines mit Georg Hiller und Anh-Linh Ngo)
in ARCH+ 196-197, pp. 12-22, January 2010

2019 Italian translation
in Nicola Manghi « Modernizzare o ecologizzare »
Essere du Questa Terra Guerra et Pace al tempo dei conflitti ecologici,
Rosenberg& Sellier, 2019, pp. 39-65.

Ecology & Political Ecology, Politics 🔗