Introduction + Chapter 1: A Few Criticisms

Author: Philip Conway

Given the cursory and familiar nature of the opening chapters I don’t have a great deal to add just yet in terms of commentary but I do have one major criticism.  It concerns the definition of ‘The Moderns’ – perhaps the central plank of Latour’s political-philosophical platform.

Summary of Introduction + Chapter 1

Author: Philip Conway

Greetings, tout le monde!

We’ve yet to establish a format for these posts.  What I’ve done here needn’t set a precedent for everyone else; I just hope that the following will be useful.  At the very least it’ll get us started.  I’ve written up a bullet point summary of the introduction and the first chapter – a melange of paraphrases and choice quotes.  Hopefully that’ll be enough to refresh people’s memories, provide an overview of the text and give us some jumping off points for conversation.  If I’ve missed something major or if you disagree with my interpretations then do let me know!

As these are the early, introductory pages and because we’ve not yet gotten our discussions going I don’t have much to add vis-à-vis commentary but I do have one critical remark to make about Latour’s definition of ‘The Moderns.’  That’ll come in a second post.

First, the summary. 

LA Review of Books on Modes of Existence

Stephen Muecke reviews the french edition of An Inquiry into Modes of Existence here.

Another Turn After ANT: An Interview with Bruno Latour

“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.”

The interview with John Tresch is available here.

An Introduction to AIME