Abstract

In Conversation with Bruno Latour and Michel Foucault. Towards an Understanding of Power in the Networks of Nonmodern Science This research is situated within Science and Technology Studies and compares the work of Latour and Foucault to critique how knowledge is constructed in modern scientific practice. Despite their different backgrounds – Latour in the natural sciences and Foucault in the social sciences – I examine whether their ideas can be combined into a more critical synthesis of knowledge production. I argue that their interaction opens up a nonmodern perspective on epistemology and challenges the traditional separation between epistemology and ontology. Moving beyond Kant’s modern epistemology, I integrate Latour’s network theory with Foucault’s concept of productive power. This synthesis has ontological and ethical implications for current scientific practices and resonates with feminist science scholars such as Haraway (1988) and Barad (2007). The paper presents a three-part analysis, drawing on secondary literature and offering new insights into the Latour-Foucault comparison.