"One possible exception is the French philosopher and anthropologist Bruno Latour, who in recent years has insistently urged us to regard objects not merely as 'matters of fact,' in his formulation, but as 'matters of concern'. Instead of making things less interesting, by debunking the notion that things have meaning that can be discovered, he argues, enlightened critics ought to make things more interesting-by regarding every object as an association, a network, a gathering (ding, in German). Latour calls for 'a multifarious inquiry launched with the tools of anthropology, philosophy, metaphysics, history, sociology to detect how many participants are gathered in a thing to make it exist and to maintain its existence'."


Excerpt from Taking Things Seriously - 75 Objects with Unexpected Significance
Joshua Glenn & Carol Hayes

posted by amy