Inquiry into Modes of Existence: An Anthropology of the Moderns

Bruno Latour's "An Inquiry into Modes of Existence" explores the different types of connectors that provide specific truth conditions, explaining the differences between law, science, politics, and other domains of knowledge. It is a thought-provoking and accessible book that appeals to the public square, emphasizing the importance of rationality and multiple threads in understanding the world.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 520 pages
\n Publication date: 29 June 2018
\n Publisher: Harvard University Press
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Over the past twenty-five years, Bruno Latour has developed a research protocol distinct from the actor-network theory with which his name is now associated—a research protocol that follows the various types of connectors that provide specific truth conditions. These are the connectors that prompt a climate scientist challenged by a captain of industry to appeal to the institution of science, with its army of researchers and mountains of data, rather than to "capital-S Science" as a higher authority. Such modes of extension—or modes of existence, as Latour argues here—account for the many differences between law, science, politics, and other domains of knowledge.

"An Inquiry into Modes of Existence" demonstrates that [Latour] has lost none of his astonishing fertility as a thinker, or his skill and wit as a writer. Latour's main message—that rationality is 'woven from more than one thread—is intended not just for the academic seminar, but for the public square—and the public square today is global as never before.

Jonathan Rée, Times Literary Supplement, praised Latour's work, stating, "Magnificent... An Inquiry into Modes of Existence shows that [Latour] has lost none of his astonishing fertility as a thinker, or his skill and wit as a writer. Latour's main message—that rationality is 'woven from more than one thread—is intended not just for the academic seminar, but for the public square—and the public square today is global as never before."

Stephen Muecke, Los Angeles Review of Books, also lauded Latour's work, stating, "Latour's work makes the world—sorry, worlds—interesting again."

\n Weight: 698g\n
Dimension: 234 x 176 x 35 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9780674984028\n \n