“The problem with Bruno Latour’s style is largely due to his anxiety of influence and his consequent covering his tracks by changing the terminology and hiding the concepts by means of a seemingly de-concepted “infra-language””
“Latour has recently produced a very innovative ontology, expounded in his treatise AN INQUIRY INTO MODES OF EXISTENCE”
“This is where I bring in the comparison of Latour with Badiou. Latour asserts that the sixteen modes of existence that he describes are also modes of “veridiction”, in Badiousian terms they are “truth procedures”.”
“We must be careful here not to raise superficial objections. Obviously Latour is not Badiou, his terminology is different. I do not reify either’s vocabulary”
“I do not “believe” in Latour’s system, but using him as a means of comparison can help us see limitations in Badiou’s thought that would otherwise go unnoticed”
“read Latour with an open mind, outside reified terminology and provincial references, and it will change your vision of Badiou”