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Prince of Networks is the first treatment of Bruno Latour specifically as a philosopher. It has been eagerly awaited by readers of both Latour and Harman since their public discussion at the London School of Economics in February 2008. Part One covers four key works that display Latour’s underrated contributions to metaphysics: Irreductions, Science in Action, We Have Never Been Modern, and Pandora’s Hope. Harman contends that Latour is one of the central figures of contemporary philosophy, with a highly original ontology centered in four key concepts: actants, irreduction, translation, and alliance. In Part Two, Harman summarizes Latour’s most important philosophical insights, including his status as the first ‘secular occasionalist.’ The problem of translation between entities is no longer solved by the fiat of God (Malebranche) or habit (Hume), but by local mediators. Working from his own ‘object-oriented’ perspective, Harman also criticizes the Latourian focus on the relational character of actors at the expense of their cryptic autonomous reality. This book forms a remarkable interface between Latour’s Actor-Network Theory and the Speculative Realism of Harman and his confederates. It will be of interest to anyone concerned with the emergence of new trends in the humanities following the long postmodernist interval. 'Graham Harman does for Bruno Latour what Deleuze did for Foucault. Rather than a recounting of Latour’s impressive sociological analyses, Harman approaches Latour as a philosopher, offering a new realist object-oriented metaphysic capable of sustaining contemporary thought well into the next century. What ensues is a lively and productive debate between rival, yet sympathetic, orientations of object-oriented philosophy between two of our most highly original, daring, and creative philosophers, giving us a text destined to have a major impact on contemporary philosophical thought and providing exciting avenues beyond reigning deadlocks that haunt philosophy today.' Professor Levi R. Bryant (Collin College), author of Difference and Givenness: Deleuze's Transcendental Empiricism and the Ontology of Immanence. 'Graham Harman’s book Prince of Networks is a wonderfully eloquent exposition of the metaphysical foundations of Latour’s work. This is not an introduction to Latour. It is rather a skilful and penetrating interpretation of his work, as well as a insightful Heideggerian critique. At last somebody has taken Latour to heart and to task. I cannot imagine a more forceful, incisive and lucid analysis of the foundations of Latour’s work than this one.' Professor Lucas D. Introna (Lancaster University)
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Enlightening Latour Intro
3 July 2010
Format:Paperback
Graham Harman sees Bruno Latour as the bridge which philosophy must pass through to get to the twenty-first century and its challenges, and the book may just convince you of that. There are two parts to this fantastically written essay: first, the metaphysics of Latour and his actors -- their irreducibility, their alliances, their translations -- and, second, how Latour holds our hand and helps us into the realm of a new philosophy of objects. The book is charmingly and vividly written, both very accessible and very entertaining (you'll laugh, you just might cry -- seriously, there are a couple of surprisingly moving passages). It encourages the reader to move off in two directions: towards a greater understanding of Latour's fascinating and compelling actor-network theory (ANT), but also in the direction of the work-in-progress object-oriented philosophy, Harman's own philosophical brainchild (though with some very important ancestors that just might surprise you!). This is a really fun philosophical ride, especially since neither work is finished (both Latour and Harman are busy writing and publishing -- keep an eye out for Harman's The Quadruple Object in 2011 which is a more thorough investigation of some of the ideas brought out at the end of Prince of Networks).
If you feel that you are in a kind of philosophical rut, unable to talk about anything but texts and signifiers, this book is definitely for you. If, on the other hand, you are of the scientistic persuasion, and can't stop talking about quarks or the Higgs boson, this book is also for you, and might offer you some challenges to reductionist materialism. And if not, you'll surely have fun reading it.
If you feel that you are in a kind of philosophical rut, unable to talk about anything but texts and signifiers, this book is definitely for you. If, on the other hand, you are of the scientistic persuasion, and can't stop talking about quarks or the Higgs boson, this book is also for you, and might offer you some challenges to reductionist materialism. And if not, you'll surely have fun reading it.
12 of 16 people found the following review helpful
ANT
21 Sep 2009
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an excellent book. I was not familiar with Latour or Harman but having read this, I want to find out more. I was particularly intrigued by the mention of moving away from anthropocentrism...the notion of anything being an "actor" in a network,actors can be anything from people to animals, to ideas and objects... I've been pondering this in recent time. Also, the notion that something doesn't "exist" before it is "invented/discovered" is also very thought provoking. Check it out, its surprising and deep. I've read through it once but as I look deeper into the two thinkers I'll be going back in this book.
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