Abstract

Bruno Latour provides one of the most interesting critical accounts of modernity. His basic assumption consists in equally regarding humans and non-humans, dealing with society, nature, and discourse in a radically symmetric way. This paper evaluates if symmetry can be preserved in the light of four critical issues: the actor-network is actually a discursive device, in which the observer distributes, in his narrative, the role of humans and non-humans; the dynamics between signs and things is technologically biased by the concept of black-boxing; the ontological pluralism of different modes of existence does not prevent the survival of a latent social differentiation, in terms of traditional sociology; and, finally, while technique, science and law are demystified by the anthropology of the moderns, politics remains idealized and distant from the political practices of everyday.

Details

Title
ASYMMETRIES OF BRUNO LATOURS SYMMETRIC ANTHROPOLOGY
Author
Bachur, João Paulo
Pages
n/a
Publication year
2016
Publication date
2016
Publisher
Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Ciências Sociais - ANPOCS
ISSN
01026909
e-ISSN
18069053
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
Portuguese
ProQuest document ID
1838585224
Copyright
Copyright Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Ciências Sociais - ANPOCS 2016