Comparison as a Matter of Concern

Abstract

The question of universalism and relativism is often taken to be a matter of critical reflexivity. This article attempts to present the question instead as a matter of practical, political, and always-situated concern. The attempt starts from the consideration of modern experimental sciences. These sciences usually serve as the stronghold for universalist claims and as such are a target of relativism. It is argued that the specificity of these sciences is not a method but a concern. To be able to claim that they have not unilaterally imposed their definitions on the phenomena they study is the leading concern of experimenters and should be understood in terms of the following achievement: the creation of a very particular “rapport” that authorizes claiming that what is operationally defined “lends itself” to this correlation. Linking knowledge production with a creation of rapports entails a pluralization of sciences along with the pluralization of modes of concern associated with the rapport. However, resisting unilaterally imposed definitions is not enough, since with the coming “knowledge economy” the questions that this article raises will soon be part of a romantic past. Thus it concludes with a speculative touch, which may be a requiem, relating the creation of rapports with an ecology of practices akin to William James's always-under-construction pluriverse.

Encountering Bioinfrastructure: Ecological Struggles and the Sciences of Soil

“…Permaculture movements are far from being 'against technology' but are calling for technologies that can work with nature's patterns (Mollison, 1988) rather than against them, or trying to master them (Merchant, 1990). Of course the development of these at a level that could transform scientific practice remains marginal, the mode of production of science today is far from being accessible to the average gardener and the drive of Science Inc. seems unstoppable, including to scientists themselves (Stengers, 2006(Stengers, , 2011. But though biotechnologies working 'with nature's patterns' are yet to be invented it is the point of this paper to insinuate that these could be fostered and that soil sciences might be offering glimpses of a common soil science, attentive to ordinary ways of knowing and calls from outside science.…”

Plants, people and health: Three disciplines at work in Namaqualand

“…We need to do this reading with the same 'disciplining form' we apply to ourselves, so this notion of vague whole and emergent parts is a minimalist standardising form that our collaboration works through. If we envisage our problem through whole-parts generalising, we can imagine it as a version of an old story that Stengers 43 reminds us of:…”

Introduction: cultures inuit, gouvernance et cosmopolitiques

“…D'autres chercheurs utilisent les notions d'«existants», de «modes identificatoires» et s'interrogent sur ces «collectifs», cherchant à saisir la diversité du monde (Descola 2005(Descola , 2010. Des philosophes ont pour leur part introduit ou relancé des concepts comme ceux de «cosmopolitiques» (Stengers 2004) ou de «cosmopolitanisme» (Beck 2004, cf. Latour 2004.…”

“…Other researchers are using notions of "existing entities" and "ways of self-identifying" and are pondering these "collective entities" in order to understand the world's diversity (Descola 2005(Descola , 2010. For their part, philosophers have introduced or re-introduced such concepts as "cosmopolitics" (Stengers 2004) or "cosmopolitanism" (Beck 2004, cf. Latour 2004.…”