Ethics in actor networks, or: What Latour could Learn from Darwin and Dewey

K Waelbers, P Dorstewitz - Science and engineering ethics, 2014 - Springer
K Waelbers, P Dorstewitz
Science and engineering ethics, 2014Springer
Abstract In contemporary Science, Technology and Society (STS) studies, Bruno Latour's
Actor Network Theory (ANT) is often used to study how social change arises from interaction
between people and technologies. Though Latour's approach is rich in the sense of
enabling scholars to appreciate the complexity of many relevant technological,
environmental, and social factors in their studies, the approach is poor from an ethical point
of view: the doings of things and people are couched in one and the same behaviorist (third …
Abstract
In contemporary Science, Technology and Society (STS) studies, Bruno Latour’s Actor Network Theory (ANT) is often used to study how social change arises from interaction between people and technologies. Though Latour’s approach is rich in the sense of enabling scholars to appreciate the complexity of many relevant technological, environmental, and social factors in their studies, the approach is poor from an ethical point of view: the doings of things and people are couched in one and the same behaviorist (third person) vocabulary without giving due recognition to the ethical relevance of human intelligence, sympathy and reflection in making responsible choices. This article argues that two other naturalist projects, the non-teleological virtue ethics of Charles Darwin and the pragmatist instrumentalism of John Dewey can enrich ANT-based STS studies, both, in a descriptive and in a normative sense.
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