Bruno Latour

Bruno Latour (22 June 1947 – 9 October 2022) was a French philosopher, anthropologist and sociologist.

He was especially known for his work in the field of science and technology studies (STS).

In 1971–1972, he ranked second and then first (reçu second, premier) in the French national competitive exam (agrégation/CAPES de philosophies).

He was deeply influenced by Michel Serres.

Latour went on to earn his PhD degree in philosophical theology at the University of Tours in 1975.

His thesis title was Exégèse et ontologie: une analyse des textes de resurrection (Exegesis and Ontology: An Analysis of the Texts of Resurrection).

Latour developed an interest in anthropology, and undertook fieldwork in Ivory Coast (on behalf of ORSTOM) which resulted in a brief monograph on decolonization, race, and industrial relations.

Latour rose in importance following the 1979 publication of Laboratory Life: the Social Construction of Scientific Facts with co-author Steve Woolgar.

In the book, the authors undertake an ethnographic study of a neuroendocrinology research laboratory at the Salk Institute.

This early work argued that naïve descriptions of the scientific method, in which theories stand or fall on the outcome of a single experiment, are inconsistent with actual laboratory practice.

In the laboratory, Latour and Woolgar observed that a typical experiment produces only inconclusive data that is attributed to failure of the apparatus or experimental method, and that a large part of scientific training involves learning how to make the subjective decision of what data to keep and what data to throw out.

Latour and Woolgar argued that, for untrained observers, the entire process resembles not an unbiased search for truth and accuracy but a mechanism for ignoring data that contradicts scientific orthodoxy.

Latour and Woolgar produced a highly heterodox and controversial picture of the sciences.

Drawing on the work of Gaston Bachelard, they advance the notion that the objects of scientific study are socially constructed within the laboratory—that they cannot be attributed with an existence outside of the instruments that measure them and the minds that interpret them.

They view scientific activity as a system of beliefs, oral traditions and culturally specific practices—in short, science is reconstructed not as a procedure or as a set of principles but as a culture.

After teaching at the École des Mines de Paris (Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation) from 1982 to 2006, he became professor at Sciences Po Paris (2006–2017), where he was the scientific director of the Sciences Po Medialab.

After spending more than twenty years (1982–2006) at the Centre de sociologie de l'innovation at the École des Mines in Paris, Latour moved in 2006 to Sciences Po, where he was the first occupant of a chair named for Gabriel Tarde.

Latour's 1987 book Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society is one of the key texts of the sociology of scientific knowledge in which he famously wrote his Second Principle as follows: "Scientist and engineers speak in the name of new allies that they have shaped and enrolled; representatives among other representatives, they add these unexpected resources to tip the balance of force in their favor."

Latour is best known for his books We Have Never Been Modern (1991; English translation, 1993), Laboratory Life (with Steve Woolgar, 1979) and Science in Action (1987).

Although his studies of scientific practice were at one time associated with social constructionist approaches to the philosophy of science, Latour diverged significantly from such approaches.

He was best known for withdrawing from the subjective/objective division and re-developing the approach to work in practice.

In recent years he also served as one of the curators of successful art exhibitions at the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie in Karlsruhe, Germany, including "Iconoclash" (2002) and "Making Things Public" (2005).

In 2005 he also held the Spinoza Chair of Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam.

Latour's religion continued into the later parts of his life.

Latour died from pancreatic cancer on 9 October 2022, at the age of 75.

On 22 May 2008, Latour was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Université de Montréal on the occasion of an organizational communication conference held in honor of the work of James R. Taylor, on whom Latour has had an important influence.

He held several other honorary doctorates, as well as France's Légion d'Honneur (2012).

On 13 March 2013, he was announced as the winner of the 2013 Holberg Prize.

The prize committee stated that "Bruno Latour has undertaken an ambitious analysis and reinterpretation of modernity, and has challenged fundamental concepts such as the distinction between modern and pre-modern, nature and society, human and non-human."

The committee states that "the impact of Latour's work is evident internationally and far beyond studies of the history of science, art history, history, philosophy, anthropology, geography, theology, literature and law."

A 2013 article in Aftenposten by Norwegian philosopher Jon Elster criticised the conferment to Latour, by saying "The question is, does he deserve the prize. ... If the statutes [of the award] had used new knowledge as a main criteria, instead of one of several, then he would be completely unqualified in my opinion."

He retired from several university activities in 2017.

He was also a Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics.

Latour said in 2017 that he is interested in helping to rebuild trust in science and that some of the authority of science needs to be regained.

Along with Michel Callon, Madeleine Akrich, 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 Algirdas Julien Greimas, and (more recently) the sociology of Émile Durkheim's rival Gabriel Tarde.

Latour was related to a well-known family of winemakers from Burgundy known as Maison Louis Latour, but was not associated with the similarly named Château Latour estate in Bordeaux.

As a student, Latour originally focused on philosophy.

The Dutch "International Spinozaprijs Foundation" awarded the "Spinozalens 2020" to Bruno Latour on 24 November 2020.

In 2021 he received the Kyoto Prize in the category "Thought and Ethics".

After his early career efforts, Latour shifted his research interests to focus on laboratory scientists.