Foreign thinker
Bruno Latour
Bruno LatourPhilosophy of science, sociology of science, actor-network theoryFrench1947–2022
“We have never been modern.”
In their times
Open in the Timeline of Thought
Life and Thought
Bruno Latour was a French philosopher, sociologist of science, and theorist who was recognized as one of the major figures in science and technology studies and actor-network theory. By criticizing traditional divisions between nature and society, and between humans and nonhumans, he proposed a new approach to studying the production of scientific knowledge and the relations among beings and objects.
Bruno Latour was born in 1947 in Beaune, France. He studied philosophy and later engaged with anthropology and the sociology of science and technology. He spent important parts of his academic career at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, the École des Mines de Paris, and Sciences Po Paris.
Through his studies in science and technology, Latour became one of the founders of Actor-Network Theory. This theory holds that scientific and social phenomena are produced through networks of relations among humans, tools, technologies, institutions, and nonhuman entities, challenging a strict division between society and nature.
His important works include Laboratory Life (with Steve Woolgar), We Have Never Been Modern, Science in Action, Politics of Nature, and An Inquiry into Modes of Existence. In his later years, Latour focused on environmental issues and the climate crisis, arguing for a reconsideration of the relationship between humans, the Earth, and other beings. His thought influenced philosophy of science, sociology, anthropology, and environmental studies.