His research into how humans, nature, and things combine to create our world transformed social science.
The French sociologist and philosopher Bruno Latour has died at the age of 75. He is considered to be one of the last in his field who, as the founder of his own school of thought, changed the worldview of many students and readers. The so-called actor-network theory, which he developed against contemporary constructivist approaches, incorporated findings from social science, ecology, technology research, law and religious studies. Until his retirement, Latour taught at the Institut d’études politiques in Paris.
One of his most famous writings is “We have never been modern”, in which he criticizes the artificial separation of “natural” and “social” instances in natural science. His study “The Berlin Key. Explorations of a Science Lover” had a style-defining effect. His books are published in German by Suhrkamp Verlag, most recently the writing “Where am I? Lessons from lockdown”.