A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology

Notes

1. Latour’s definition of technoscience (1987: 174–5) is part of the exposition of his worldview and method, and it is not easy to summarize briefly. The relevant passage reads: “To remind us of this important distinction [the Janus-like quality of science-in-the-making compared with ready-made science], I will use the word technoscience from now on, to describe all the elements tied to the scientific contents no matter how dirty, unexpected or foreign they seem, and the expression ‘science and technology,’ in quotation marks, to designate what is kept of technoscience once all the trials of responsibility have been settled. The more ‘science and technology’ has an esoteric content the further they extend outside. Thus, ‘science and technology’ is only a sub-set which seems to take precedence only because of an optical illusion.”

2. <www.ban.org/BANreports/10-24-05/index.htm> (21 December 2007).