We have never been modern

With the rise of science, modern society believes it has irrevocably separated from its primitive ancestors. Bruno Latour challenges this notion, exploring what the world would look like if we reconsidered this belief. His anthropology of science reveals that much of modernity is rooted in faith. He questions what it truly means to be modern and the significance of the scientific method, highlighting our distinctions between nature and society, human and object—distinctions that our ancestors did not make in their worlds of alchemy and astrology. However, alongside this purifying practice of modernity exists a contrary one: the blending of politics, science, technology, and nature. Latour analyzes hybrid issues like the ozone debate, global warming, and deforestation, suggesting that as these hybrids multiply, maintaining separate categories for nature and culture becomes increasingly untenable. Instead of striving to keep them apart, he advocates for rethinking our distinctions and redefining modernity. His work offers a new perspective on science that acknowledges the connections between nature and culture, as well as between our culture and others, both past and present. Ultimately, it aims to preserve the valuable aspects of modernity while fostering a broader, more inclusive understanding of possibility.