http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr/fr/taxonomy/term/39 fr http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr/fr/node/49 <p><a href="http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr/fr/node/49" target="_blank">en lire plus</a></p> History of Science Modes of Existence Sociology of Science <p>The paper starts by a visit to an exhibit at the Natural History Museum in New York which shows in parallel series of fossils of horse evolution and series of how paleontologists have varied in their reconstruction of this evolution. It is the occasion to test again an argument at the heart of science studies and history of science : is there a history of science ideas about nature, or also a history of the objects known by science. If the latter is the case, then do we have the philosophical ressource to think this change of conception through ?</p> Fri, 02 Sep 2011 08:19:59 +0000 admin1 49 at http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr/fr/node/130 Epistemology History of Science Sociology of Science Technology <p>Written for a large public interested in renewing the understanding of scientific practice and its connection with the rest of society this book uses anecdotes, case studies, examples from many different periods and disciplines, to define rules of methods which can be used in following scientists around; the key role is given to non-humans, that is to associations that cut accross the former divide between nature and society. It can be used as a general introduction to science studies.</p> Sun, 02 Oct 2011 12:04:49 +0000 admin 130 at http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr/fr/node/184 <p><a href="http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr/fr/node/184" target="_blank">en lire plus</a></p> Actor-Network-Theory Sociology of Science Technology <p>The contribution of the field of science and technology studies (STS) to main stream sociology has so far been slim because of a misunderstanding about what it means to provide a social explanation of a piece of science or of an artefact. Once this misunderstanding has been clarified, it becomes interesting to measure up the challenge raised by STS to the usual epistemologies they believed necessary for their undertakings. The social sciences imitates the natural sciences in a way that render them unable to profit from the type of objectivity found in the natural sciences.</p> Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:29:48 +0000 admin 184 at http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr/fr/node/191 Epistemology Philosophy Sociology of Science <p>There is a traditionnal opposition between the time/space categories of physics and the lived space and time of phenomenology. The paper, using Piaget’s understanding of formalism as an anti-model, explores how this dichotomy has been devised, why it cannot be sustained as soon as the study of scientific and technical practice re-embeds time and space production inside metrological networks, and, finally, offers an alternative account of time and space production that is based on another theory of « the exploration » of Being.</p> Wed, 05 Oct 2011 16:28:21 +0000 admin 191 at http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr/fr/node/211 Actor-Network-Theory Sociology of Science <p>Actor-network-theory is both a now well known method of social science –especially influential in organisation and information studies- and yet quite misunderstood because of the way it establishes a link between theory and field work. This paper uses the unusual medium of dialog to presents the various difficulties that exist in trying to ‘apply’ ANT to a given subject. Through the use of polemics and irony it reviews as well many of the well known weaknesses of this methodology.</p> Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:30:56 +0000 admin 211 at http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr/fr/node/213 <p><a href="http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr/fr/node/213" target="_blank">en lire plus</a></p> Law Modes of Existence Sociology of Science <p>A comparative ethnography of fact-making in science and judgment-making in law may allow to separate again what has been mixed up in the traditional definition of matter of fact: an ability to close up the discussion and an ability to produce proofs by enticing objects to bear witness on what is said about them. There is objectivity in both but one refers to a mental attitude of indifference to the solution while the other -objectity- refers to the many intimate and even passionnate contacts with the state of affairs at hand.</p> Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:42:46 +0000 admin 213 at http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr/fr/node/223 Philosophy Sociology of Science <p>The paper tries to find an intermdiary zone between metaphysics -especially that of Whitehead- and sociology or social history of science. It offers a sketchy but robust vocabulary to define the spatio-temporal envelop of phenomena, without having to take decisions on their existence or non-existence. The notion of network is then given a more precise metaphysics by pursuing how a phenomenon is then extended, through standardization and reformatting, into the classical status of existing or non-existing objetcs.</p> Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:12:00 +0000 admin 223 at http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr/fr/node/225 Actor-Network-Theory Sociology of Science Technology <p>This article of social theory reintroduces the object inside the definition of society and shows how this can solve the debate between « micro” and « macro” definitions of social order. It adds to inter-subjectivity the notion of « inter-objectivity” in order to redefine the notion of agency, of action and of actor. It then proceeds to modify the definition of action.</p> Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:24:50 +0000 admin 225 at http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr/fr/node/230 Digital Humanities Quantitative methods Sociology of Science <p>By pushing to its extreme conclusions recent accounts of formal reasoning in context, this article claims that a machine that cumulates enough context -in the highly reduced forms of co-occurences of words- is able to capture the solidity of most micro-theories; emergent properties are studied of what is a prototype for a work station allowing social science students to treat full texts in a « quali-quantitative” manner.</p> Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:45:27 +0000 admin 230 at http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr/fr/node/255 <p><a href="http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr/fr/node/255" target="_blank">en lire plus</a></p> Modes of Existence Semiotics & Literature Studies Sociology of Science Viualization Epistémologie Modes d'existence Visualisation <p>A gauche une grande savane, à droite la lisière abrupte d’une épaisse forêt. On dirait que des paysans ont créé ce partage entre deux mondes, l’un sec et vide, l’autre humide et plein, par la hache et la scie. Pourtant personne n’a jamais cultivé ces terres. Aucun cordeau n’a jamais servi à tracer la lisière qui s’étend sur des centaines de kilomètres. Si la savane sert bien de pâturages aux boeufs d’un latifundiste, elle s’arrête naturellement aux limites de la forêt que ne borne aucune barrière artificielle.</p> Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:14:08 +0000 admin 255 at http://cms-brunolatour.sciences-po.fr