超越自然与社会的分裂——拉图尔的知识论研究

Beyond the division of nature and society:The study of Latour’s Epistemology

随着科学技术的发展,以科学实在论和社会建构论为主线的传统知识论已无法解释当下的科学技术现象,而且二者之间的分歧也越来越大。拉图尔发现科学实在论和社会建构论的问题根源在于主客二元——社会与自然对立下的客观主义和主观主义立场。拉图尔为了消解预先设定的主客二元对立思维模式,发起了“反哥白尼革命”,采取以非预设的“中间地带”为中心来解释主体和客体,即以“中间王国”为起点来解释自然和社会。拉图尔采取非预设的人类学跟踪调查方法来揭示科学知识的形成过程。拉图尔认为科学知识的形成过程是一个连续的指称过程,知识就是“指称之链”。指称的过程既是知识的生成过程又是知识的辩护过程,二者是同一个过程,在知识的生成与辩护当中知识的客观性也就形成了。

With the development of science and technology,traditional Epistemology with scientific realism and social construction theory as the main line cannot explain the current scientific and technological phenomena,and the divergence between them is deeper and deeper.Latour finds that the root of the problem of scientific realism and social constructivism lies in the duality of subject and object,namely the objectivist and subjectivist position under the opposition between society and nature.In order to dispel the subject-object dualism thinking mode,Latour launches the Copernican counter-revolution,and adopts the non-predetermined“the Middle”as the center to explain the subject and the object,that is,as“the Middle Kingdom”a starting point to explain nature and society.Latour takes a non-predictive anthropological tracking method to reveal the formation of scientific knowledge.Latour believes that the formation of scientific knowledge is a continuous process of reference,and knowledge is the“chains of reference”.At the same time,the process of reference is not only the process of knowledge generation but also the process of knowledge justification.The two are the same process,and the objectivity of knowledge is formed in the generation and justification of knowledge.