"Bruno Latour is an intriguing person. He first caught global attention with his (and co-author Steve Woolgar's) 1979 book Laboratory Life. In this work, Latour and Woolgar observed laboratory scientists ethnographically. Meaning, they'd follow scientists similar to how primatologists would follow chimpanzees in the wild. White coats were investigated in their natural habitat. This way, Latour thought he could analyse the behaviour of scientists and verify how discussions, negotiations, and rivalries shape what becomes "knowledge.""
"After his inquiries, Latour concluded that scientists apply an awful lot of personal biases and human behaviours to so-called factually correct scientific research. For Latour, "facts" gain authority through social processes, institutional validation, and consensus-building. Not just through "objective" discovery. Latour's conclusion that science is not as factual as people tend to think triggered a fair bit of controversy. Even today, people find it hard to grasp how human behaviour can influence "truth-finding." In his later work, Latour investigated this challenge through alternative lenses."
"Latour's 1991 book We Have Never Been Modern makes an alternative claim to "truth-seeking." The global consensus is that the world became advanced during the enlightenment and scientific revolution. Science, intellectual debate, and a detachment from religious dogma allowed for a clear analytical outlook on the world. After the dark ages, we could finally really progress. The modern and "civilised" man was born."
Bruno Latour conducted ethnographic observation of laboratory scientists, following them like primatologists follow chimpanzees to study behaviours in their natural habitat. He found that scientists rely on negotiations, rivalries, and everyday human behaviours that shape what is accepted as knowledge. Latour concluded that facts gain authority via social processes, institutional validation, and consensus-building rather than solely through objective discovery. His conclusion provoked controversy and raised questions about how human behaviour influences truth-finding. Later work questioned the modern separation of nature and society and challenged the Enlightenment narrative of a clear division between objective nature and socially constructed society.
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