Towards a Sociology of Ontological Reflexivity.

• In Event: Machines and Humans: Risk, Fear and Collaboration

Abstract

What types of interactions are formed with artificial agents? How can sociology study these interactions? Can they be apprehended as a simple simulacrum of human interactions? Can they be considered as a place where relationships are established? This paper intends to make an inventory of the works that can be mobilized in social sciences and to propose a new orientation to build this object of research. First, we show how it is possible to rely on several works that question a dualistic approach to constitute ontology no longer as a goal but as an object of study. These works invite us to investigate the ontological determination of hybrid beings, which leads us to discard the objective of distinguishing between human and machine. Secondly, we emphasize how the operations of ontological determination are intimately linked with the concern to find adjusted modes of cohabitation. We underline the importance of experimental interactions with hybrid beings, as well as the ways in which these interactions are likely to reconfigure our attachment modalities and lead us to develop relational creativity. Finally, we intend to enrich these works by paying more attention to the ontological reflexivity of actors. From a perspective of pragmatic sociology, we propose to follow the investigations conducted by the actors to qualify the world, focusing in particular on the ways in which they constitute the social as an object of investigation. This raises the question of both ordinary and specialized practices that naturalize/denaturalize the social world.

Author

• Céline Borelle, Orange Labs