Bruno Latour
French anthropologist and philosopher who blended science studies with ethnography in actor-network theory.
Most quoted
"The laboratory is the only place where the distinction between subject and object is suspended."
— from Laboratory Life, 1979
"In the age of ecology, we need to rethink the separation between facts and values."
— from Politics of Nature, 2004
"Facts are robust only when they are supported by a dense network of other facts."
— from Science in Action, 1987
All quotes by Bruno Latour (100)
The social is not a domain; it's a tracing of associations.
Black boxes are what make science possible.
We are all hybrids, but we pretend to be pure.
The Parliament of Things is where humans and non-humans deliberate.
Innovation comes from translation, not from invention alone.
The Earth is not our mother; it's our fellow actor.
Sociology should study associations, not just society.
Facts are made, not found.
The modern constitution separates the world into two realms: nature and society.
To follow actors is to deploy the actor-network.
Climate change requires a new diplomacy between humans and the planet.
Objects have agency; they act back on us.
The laboratory is a microcosm of the world.
We need to compose a common world with non-humans.
The critical tradition has run out of steam.
Matter is not passive; it's full of events.
Globalization is a myth; we need terrestrial politics.
Icons are not idols; they are ways to think with images.
The virus doesn't care about borders; why should we?
Anthropology is the study of the circulation of quasi-objects.
Contemporaries of Bruno Latour
Other Anthropologys born within 50 years of Bruno Latour (1947–2022).