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(101)
On Sloterdijk
2007

On Sloterdijk is a Lecture given at the special symposium in Bruxelles at the Académie flamande des sciences.

Abstract
Lecture given at the special symposium, Bruxelles, Académie flamande des sciences, Février 2007
Translations
No Other Translations Available
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(99)
A Textbook Case Revisited. Knowledge as mode of existence.
2006

E. Hackett, O. Amsterdamska, M. Lynch and J. Wacjman (edtors), The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies –Third Edition, (2007) pp. 83-112, Cambridge, Mass, MIT Press.

Abstract
The paper starts by a visit to an exhibit at the Natural History Museum in New York which shows in parallel series of fossils of horse evolution and series of how paleontologists have varied in their reconstruction of this evolution. It is the occasion to test again an argument at the heart of science studies and history of science : is there a history of science ideas about nature, or also a history of the objects known by science. If the latter is the case, then do we have the philosophical ressource to think this change of conception through ? Using James, Fleck, Whitehead and more recent science studies results, the paper tries to « desepistemologize » knowledge on the one hand while « reontologizing » it on the other.
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99-HANDBOOK-COURT-FR.pdfapplication/pdf icon
Translations

2007: Français / French
Traducteur: Christelle Gramaglia et et David Jamar
« La connaissance est-elle un mode d’existence : rencontre au muséum de James, de Fleck et de Whitehead avec des fossiles de chevaux » in Didier Debaise Vie et expérimentation : Peirce, James, Dewey (sous la direction de) Vrin Paris, pp.17-44, 2007.

2014: Allemand/ German
Traducteur: Gustav Rozler
« Ist Wissennein Existenzmodus ? » in Anke Te Heesen & Margarete Vohringer (editors Wissenchaft Im Museum, Austellung im Labor Fink-Verlag Kulturverlag Kadmos Berlin, 2014 pp. 136-174

History of Science, Modes of Existence, Sociology of Science 🔗
(97)
What is the style of matters of concern ? Two lectures in empirical philosophy
2005

Spinoza Lectures at the University of Amsterdam, April and May 2005, publié sous forme de document indépendant, published as an independent pamphlet, Van Gorcum, Amsterdam, 51 pages, 2008

Abstract
It has become of great interest to inquire into the history of what Whitehead called « bifurcation of nature ». This history is possible provided we connect art history with science history to dig into the reasons why the distinction between primary and secondary qualities has been thought so central since the time of Locke all the way to the present debates around « naturalism ». Those lectures try to sketch this history, thus defining a second empiricism in the line of the one proposed by William James, one that is defined more by « matters of concern » than by « matters of fact », whose very peculiar aesthetics is being explored.
Translations

2005: Allemand / German
German translation of the second lecture par Frank Born (translator) « Die Asrgetik der Dinger von Belang » in Anne von der Heiden & Ninal Zschocke (editors) Autorität des Wissens, Diaphanes, Zurich, 2012, p.27-46.

2014: republication
Abridged republication of the two lectures « What is the Style of Matters of Concern » in Nicholas Gaskill & A.J. Nocek The Lure of Whitehead, University of Minnesota Press, pp. 92-127.

Epistemology, Philosophy, Viualization 🔗
(96)
From Realpolitik to Dingpolitik – An Introduction to Making Things Public
2004

In Bruno Latour & Peter Weibel Making Things Public-Atmospheres of Democracy catalogue of the show at ZKM, MIT Press, 2005 [Publication of an earlier draft in Antinomies of Art and Culture: Modernity, Postmodernity, Contemporaneity, Terry Smith (Editor), Okwui Enwezor (Editor), Nancy Condee (Editors). Republication in New Critical Writings in Political Sociology edited by Alan Scott, Kate Nash and Anna Marie Smith, Ashgate Publishing, pp. 515-539, 2009]
(pdf of the out of print catalog)

Abstract
Realpolitik turns out to be a very unrealistic version of politics. In effect, most of our political passions and interests are turned toward things –the oldEnglish and German Ding- that could be translated nowadays by ‘issues’. But in spite of this constant attention to things, political theory remained in a rather abstract level of opinions, positions, standing, problem solving and, ingeneral, discursive attitudes. The idea of the paper and thus of the show is to bring politics back to things and to see what happens when the variousassemblies in which things are shaped and decided are compared to thetraditional vocabulary of politics. The paper tries to present an overview of the catalogue by slowly shifting attention from objects to things .
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Van Realpolitik naar Dingpolitik (Dutch trans.)application/pdf icon
Translations

2005: Allemand / German
«Von der Realpolitik zur Dingpolitik oder Wie man Dinge öffentlich macht » translated by Gustav Roßler (German translation as an independent pamphlet), Merve, Berlin, 2005

2005: Néerlandais / Dutch
« Van Realpolitik naar Dingpolitik. Over publieke dingen en de res publica », slightly abridged version translated by Peter-Paul Verbeek in Krisis, N°2, 2005, 40-61

2010: Coréen / Korean
translator: Sungook Hong Ingan, Samul, Dongmang «Humans, Things, Alliance», Seoul: Eum, 2010, pp. 261-304
Republié en fascicule indépendant par le Nam June Paik Center

2011: Italien / Italian
« Dingpolitik
- Come rendere le cose pubbliche »,
Journal: translated as an independent pamphlet in Postmedia Milan, 64pp., 2011

2016: Language: Spanish
Translator: Obed Frausto Gatica y Blanca Estela Carrillo Palma
Reference: « Da Realpolitik para Dingpolitik -ou como fazer as coisas públicas”
Journal: Journal Acta Sociológica, n°71, p. 13-60, 2016

2015: Czeck
Title: « Od realpolitik k Dingpolitik aneb Jak Prezentovat veci verejnosti »
Journal: Lapidarium, Atelier socharstvi, pp. 100-116

Language: Croatian
Translator:Iva Gjurkin
Reference: Misli na izložbi niz eksperimenata u ZKM-u iz Karlsruhea,
Date and page: 2017, pp. 79-150

Politics 🔗
(94)
The Powers of Fac Similes : a Turing Test on Science and Literature
2004

In Intersections Essays on Richard Powers, edited by Stephen J. Burn & Peter Demsey, Dalkey Archive Press, Champaign, pp. 263-292, 2008

Abstract
The shift from first to second empiricism, requires a new way of handling the empiricism of ‘things’ instead of the empiricism of ‘objects’. To acquire the proper litterary resources to do so, it’s useful to turn toward the great American Richard Powers and lift out of its novels some of the tool to present again the connections between characters and technical or scientific entities. But the task is even more interesting when those resources are then used to read again a classic of scientific litterature, in this case Alan Turing famous article from the 50s where he imagines his famous test. By comparing those two texts, one explicitely litterary and the other implicitly so, a common vocabulary might be emerging for realism.
Translations
No Other Translations Available
Digital Humanities, Semiotics & Literature Studies 🔗
(93)
What is Given in Experience ? A Review of Isabelle Stengers "Penser avec Whitehead"
2004

In Boundary 2, vol.32 n°1 spring 2005, pp. 222-237

Abstract
Whitehead is very difficult and somewhat neglected thinker. Isabelle Stengers has succeeded in offering a systematic reading of his scientific as well as his theological arguments. The result is a crucial contribution to a metaphysics that reopen the question of what Whitehead had called the ‘bifurcation of nature’, that is, the unwarranted distinction between primary and secondary qualities. The result, according to this review, is a serious proposition for a second empiricism.
Translations
No Other Translations Available
Epistemology, History of Science, Philosophy 🔗
(92)
Whose Cosmos ? Which Cosmopolitics ? A Commentary on Ulrich Beck’s Peace Proposal ?
2004

In Common Knowledge, Vo. 10 Issue 3 Fall 2004 pp.450-462 [Republication de republication of Whose cosmos, which cosmopolitics? Comments on the Peace Terms of Ulrich Beck, in Caroline Y. Robertson-von-Trotha (sous la direction de) Kultur und Gerechtigkeit, Nomos Baden Baden 2007, 43-56. Second Republication in Jeffrey Perl (editor) Civilian Scholarship, Duke University Press, 200-]

Abstract
Cosmopolitism is one of the great traditions in political philosophy, human rights and international law. There is however, a much more recent and small interest in cosmo-politics, as exemplified by Isabelle Stengers’ philosophy. In the first one, the cosmos –assimilated with nature- is taken for granted and politics is taken as meaning international or global. In the other tradition, however, cosmos and its potential unity is precisely what is up for grabs. The paper comments Ulrich Beck’s lead article and increases the contrast between the two. Like (85) and (87), this article explores the possibility that constructivism might be a better resource for universality than naturalism.
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Quel cosmos, quelles cosmopolitiques? (French trans.)application/pdf icon
Quel cosmos, quelles cosmopolitiques (Spanish trans.)application/pdf icon
Quel cosmos, quelles cosmopolitiques (Portuguese trans.)application/pdf icon
Translations

2007: Français / French
« Quel cosmos, quelles cosmopolitiques?» in Jacques Lolive et Olivier Soubeyran (sous la direction de) L’émergence des cosmopolitiques- Colloque de Cerisy, Collection Recherches, La Découverte, Paris, 2007 pp. 69-84.
Republication en français republication in French in Emilie Hache (sous la direction de) Ecologie politique, cosmos, communautés, milieux, Editions Amsterdam, Paris 2012, pp. 35-50.

2015: Espagnol/Spanish
Traducteur: Ernesto Feuerhake
Titre: «El cosmos de quien ? Que cosmopolitica ? Commentarios sobre los términos de paz de Ulrich Beck»
Journal: Pleyades, Chilean Journal of political philosophy, numero 14 Centro de Análisis e Investigación Política (CAIP), pp. 43-39

2018: Portuguese
Traducteur: de Stelio Marras
Titre: « Qual cosmos, quais cosmopolíticas? Comentário sobre as propostas de paz de Ulrich Beck”
Journal: Revista do Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros, Brasil, n. 68, p. 428-441

Anthropology, Ecology & Political Ecology, Social Theory 🔗
(90)
A Dialog on Actor Network Theory with a (Somewhat) Socratic Professor
2003

In The Social Study of Information and Communication Study, edited by C. Avgerou, C. Ciborra, and F.F. Land, Oxford University Press, pp.62-76, 2004 [Republished in Livres/Books (XII)]

Abstract
Actor-network-theory is both a now well known method of social science –especially influential in organisation and information studies- and yet quite misunderstood because of the way it establishes a link between theory and field work. This paper uses the unusual medium of dialog to presents the various difficulties that exist in trying to ‘apply’ ANT to a given subject. Through the use of polemics and irony it reviews as well many of the well known weaknesses of this methodology.
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Como terminar uma tese de sociologia (Portuguese trans.)application/pdf icon
Prolog w formie dialogu (Polish trans.)application/pdf icon
Chinese translationapplication/pdf icon
French translationapplication/pdf icon
Translations

2004: Français / French
«Comment finir une thèse de sociologie ? Petit dialogue entre un étudiant et un professeur (quelque peu socratique) » in Une théorie sociologique générale est-elle pensable ?, Alain Caillé, A., Dufoix, S. (eds.), translated by Alain Caillé and Philippe Chanial, La Revue du M.A.U.S.S., n°34, p.154-172

2006: Portugais / Portuguese
« Como terminar uma tese de sociologia: pequeno dialogo entre um aluno e seu professor (um tanto socratico) » translated by José Glebson Vieira et al in Cadernos de Campo 14/15 2006 décembre 2006 p. 341-352

2007: Polonais / Polish
« Prolog w formie dialogu pomiędzy studentem i (cokolwiek) sokratycznym Profesorem », przeł. Krzysztof Abriszewski, Adrian Gahbler, Andrzej Kilanowski et al. „Teksty Drugie” 1-2: 127-143, 2007

2008: Chinois / Chinese

Actor-Network-Theory, Sociology of Science 🔗
(89)
Why Has Critique Run Out of Steam ? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern
2003

In Critical Inquiry - Special issue on the Future of Critique. Vol 30 n° 2 pp.25-248, Winter 2004. [Republished in Harper’s Magazine April 2004 pp.15-20. Republication reprinted in Bill Brown (editor) Things, Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, pp.151-174]

Abstract
The critical spirit might have turned empty as long as there is no alternative to the first empiricism -that of matter of fact: doubting of matters of fact can only mean getting away from the possibility of providing a proof. Things are different if a second empiricism is argued for, one that deals not with matters of fact but with matters of concern. Then, it might be possible to provide public proofs even though facts are no longer indisputable.
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Elend der Kritik (German trans.)application/pdf icon
Translations

2005: Espagnol / Spanish
« Perque se ha Quedado la Critica sin energia? De los Asuntos de Hecho a las Cuestiones de Preocupacion » Convergencia Revista de Ciencias Sociales Anno 11, Num 35 Mayo-Agosto 2004, p.17-50, translated byAntonio Arellano Henandez

2007: Allemand / German
« Elend der Kritik - Vom Krieg um Fakten zu Dingen von Belang » Diaphanes, Zurich & Berlin 60 pages, 2007, German translation in a separate booklet by Heinz Jatho

2007: Danois / Danish
« Ting Hvorfor et dampen gaet af kritiken? fra kendsgerninger til anliggender », in Kuntstakademiets Arkitekskole, 2007, Danish translation in a separate booklet

2007: Suédois / Swedish
in: http://www.fronesis.nu

Italian translation in Nicola Manghi « Perché la critical ha finito il carburante » Essere du Questa Terra Guerra et Pace al tempo dei conflitti ecologici, Rosenberg& Sellier, 2019, pp. 65-96.]

Compositionism, Politics 🔗
(88)
Scientific Objects and Legal Objectivity
2002

A chapter of La Fabrique du droit translated by Alain Pottage in Law, Anthropology and the Constitution of the Social : Making Persons and Things, Alain Pottage and Martha Mondy (editors), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp.73-113, 2004

Abstract
A comparative ethnography of fact-making in science and judgment-making in law may allow to separate again what has been mixed up in the traditional definition of matter of fact: an ability to close up the discussion and an ability to produce proofs by enticing objects to bear witness on what is said about them. There is objectivity in both but one refers to a mental attitude of indifference to the solution while the other -objectity- refers to the many intimate and even passionnate contacts with the state of affairs at hand. It would surely be advantageous to distinguish again refererential chains of science and the very peculiar type of closure of law.
Translations

Chinois / Chinese
In « Jianghai Acdamic Journal »

Law, Modes of Existence, Sociology of Science 🔗

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