What is the Style of Matters of Concern? Two Lectures in Empirical Philosophy

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.