Latour - Nature, Space, Society

Below is a talk by Bruno Latour on rethinking the conceptual boundaries we superimpose on the world. This talk is part of a series of presentations by leading scholars on the relationships between society, space and nature, and how they are currently being transformed both theoretically and by technological and environmental changes in the world.

Latour argues that notions that separate ‘nature’ from ‘culture’ and ‘nature’ from ‘society’ have become entirely untenable – that is to say, utterly worthless. Of particular interest is his deployment of the term "matters of concern", as opposed to "matters of fact".

Bruno Latour (b.1947) is one of the most widely read and respected social scientists in recent years. Latour is a French sociologist of science, anthropologist and an influential theorist in the field of Science and Technology Studies. He is best known for his book We Have Never Been Modern (1991). Along with Michel Callon and John Law, Latour is one of the primary developers of Actor-Network Theory (ANT), a constructionist approach influenced by the ethnomethodology of Harold Garfinkel, the generative semiotics of Greimas, and (more recently) the sociology of Durkheim's rival Gabriel Tarde.

In 2007, Latour was listed as the 10th most-cited intellectual in the humanities and social sciences by The Times Higher Education Guide.

More on Bruno Latour: Here

[ see also: SPHERES AND NETWORKS: TWO WAYS TO REINTERPRET GLOBALIZATION ]