Revisiting the Latour-Fuller Debate on the Place of the Human in Scientific Inquiry

• In Event: STS vis-à-vis Transhumanism: Friends or Foes?

Abstract

Back in 2002, Bruno Latour and I debated in Hong Kong whether a strong distinction between human and non-human was necessary for scientific inquiry. I argued the affirmative, Latour the negative. Since that time, our debating point has been complicated by the rise of recognizably ‘posthuman’ and ‘transhuman’ perspectives, each with quite distinctive implications for ontology, epistemology and ethics. There is a tendency to see both positions as in some way opposed to humanism, but in fact transhumanism is properly seen as ‘enhanced humanism’ whereas posthumanism is much more clearly is oriented toward de-centring the human as the locus of value, or as Latour might put it, ‘matter of concern’. I will revisit our debate in light of this shift in perspective.

Author

• Steve Fuller, University of Warwick