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Spinoza Lectures

In this volume, the Department of Philosophy of the University of Amsterdam presents the two Spinoza Lectures delivered by Bruno L... » 

Spinoza Lectures

In this volume, the Department of Philosophy of the University of Amsterdam presents the two Spinoza Lectures delivered by Bruno Latour, Professor and Vice-President for Research at Sciences-Po, Paris, in April and May 2005.

Bruno Latour is world-renowned for his work in science studies. Approaching science from an anthropological and historical angle and analysing what scientists do – rather than what philosophers say scientists are doing – Latour has revolutionized the established view of scientific knowledge as the representation of matters of fact.

In several publications, starting with We have never been modern (1993), Latour has pointed to the wider philosophical implications of his work in science studies. In Politics of Nature (2004) he has set out the implications for a political philosophy that addresses the ecological issues of our time.

In his Spinoza Lectures, Latour addresses classical empiricism, i.e. the philosophy that provides the epistemological and metaphysical foundations for the established view of science. The ‘bifurcation of nature’ in ‘primary’ and ‘secondary qualities’ that is foundational for empiricism is shown to be a specific aesthetic that arises out of peculiar, artificial situations, exemplified in Latour’s lectures by Jeff Wall’s ‘Adrian Walker, Artist, Drawing From a Specimen in a Laboratory in the Dept. of Anatomy at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver’, a photograph that is discussed at length. Departing from Locke, and discussing Whitehead and William James, in these lectures Latour argues for a more sensible version of empiricism, one that takes care of matters of concern rather than matters of fact. The specifications of this ‘second empiricism’ are discussed in detail.

Bruno Latour is the author of many books, translated in dozens of languages, including Science in Action (1987), Aramis or the Love of Technology (1996), and Pandora’s Hope (1999). Latour was also the curator of two important exhibitions at ZKM Karlsruhe, Iconoclash (2002) and Making Things Public (2005). «