Posthumanist Tendencies in Science and Technology Studies

Abstract

The article discusses posthumanist tendencies occurring in the so-called Science and Technology Studies (STS), concentrating mainly upon B. Latour’s Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Postconstructivist conceptions within STS emphasize the crucial role of material situatedness of technoscience that is dependent on non-humans in laboratory practice (allowing to extend and “delegate” cognitive capacities to the environment). What is more, ANT accepts the radical thesis of non-human agency. The text also analyses a larger posthumanist political trend present in STS and in other theories, rejecting the arrogance It emerges as an inevitable reaction towards the problem of possible ecological destabilization (modern systemic risk or axiological/political challenges created by the so-called “wet” technologies, such as biotechnology, biomedicine, pharmacology).