ANT at the Mirror: A Reflexive Analysis of the Theory and the Rise of a ‘New’ Action

Abstract

Is ANT an actor in its own ontology? This question summarises a number of issues that will be comprehensively investigated in this article. ANT will be analysed ‘reflexively’, that is, considering it as an actant of the ontology that it reclaims as a theory. The analysis of the concept of ‘description’ and the observation of the relational effects that ANT exerts and that are exerted on it reveal its asymmetric singularity in relation to the other actors. Therefore, we will argue whether ANT should actually be considered a ‘standing refutation’ of itself. The analysis of the concept of sociological relativity and its comparison with physical relativity reveal a possible reason for this self-contradictory behaviour, which will be the basis of our assumption concerning the emergence of a new type of action. Finally, a brief reinterpretation of ANT will be proposed, in the light of the newly introduced concepts of ontologisation and metaphysical action: it seems that this apparent contradiction can be ‘reabsorbed’ within the theory itself. Latour’s philosophical production will be broken down based on the applicability of the analysis.