Prince Of Networks - Bruno Latour And Metaphysics

Prince of Networks is the first treatment of Bruno Latour specifically as a philosopher. It has been eagerly awaited by readers of both Latour and Harman since their public discussion at the London School of Economics in February 2008. Part One cover s four key works that display Latour s underrated contributions to metaphysics: Irreductions, Science in Action, We Have Never Been Modern, and Pandora s Hope. Harman contends that Latour is one of the central figures of contemporary philosophy, wit h a highly original ontology centered in four key concepts: actants, irreduction, translation, and alliance. In Part Two, Harman summarizes Latour s most important philosophical insights, including his status as the first secular occasionalist. Th e problem of translation between entities is no longer solved by the fiat of God (Malebranche) or habit (Hume), but by local mediators. Working from his own object-oriented perspective, Harman also criticizes the Latourian focus on the relational cha racter of actors at the expense of their cryptic autonomous reality. This book forms a remarkable interface between Latour s Actor-Network Theory and the Speculative Realism of Harman and his confederates. It will be of interest to anyone concern ed w ith the emergence of new trends in the humanities following the long postmodernist interval. Graham Harman does for Bruno Latour what Deleuze did for Foucault. Rather than a recounting of Latour s impressive sociological analyses, Harman approa ches Latour as a philosopher, offering a new realist object-oriented metaphysic capable of sustaining contemporary thought well into the next century. What ensues is a lively and productive debate between rival, yet sympathetic, orientations of obje ct-ori ented philosophy between two of our most highly original, daring, and creative philosophers, giving us a text destined to have a major impact on contemporary philosophical thought and providing exciting avenues beyond reigning deadlocks that h aunt ph