Andy, you asked Mike a question about how he understood instrumentalism and notions of "means and ends" I'm choosing to start a new thread with this focus as it seems central to the shifting curves in interpreting the relation of means to ends. I'm not sure how others understand "actor-network theory" [I'm a newbie] However, for those interested I'm going to attach 3 articles that circle these topics. The first article is the one posted by Mike [recommended by Martin] The second article looks at "law" as an alternative way of looking at institutional structures and asks what kind of materiality constitutes "law". Reading this article is a way of reading Latour's ideas through a detour. It brings in discursive and systems approaches to understanding. The 3rd article is Latour's recent reformulation of actor-network theory and brings in notions of composition. Latour takes a unique standpoint on technology [the tecnical as adjectival] that he proposes is an ONTOLOGICAL category. Not something we HAVE and USE but something we ARE. However as we adjust to new regimes of ENUCIATION [expression, communication] the technical apparatuses or devices recede into "context" [like a glove fitting the hand] and are not visible. Technology is always disruptive and dislocating and shifts us from our goals through DETOURS but then returns to invisibility in its ontological being. Morality also ENUNCIATES DETOURS and is intimately [like a marbled veined interweaving] implicated as a way of reflecting on how we are thrown and shifted into emerging ontological ways of life that disrupt "the end of means" Not sure if others will find these articles interesting, but they definitely promote shifts in perspective. They also have a unique perspective on functionalism. Larry
Attachment:
MARCH 5 2012 LATOUR BRUNO 2002 Morality and Technology The End of the Means.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document
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MARCH 7 2012 POTTAGE ALAIN The Materiality of What copywrite free.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document
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MARCH 9 2012 LATOUR BRUNO An Attempt at a Compositionalist Manifesto FREE.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document
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