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Show 71 way. I first engage with Latour's notion of the subject and discuss how this perspective is useful for addressing the question of corporate subjectivity. Second, I talk about the advantages of Latour's theoretical framework to comprehending the rhetorical dynamics of subjectivity. Last, I discuss ANT in the context of corporate subjectivity. The Uses of Latour for Rethinking Rhetorical Subjectivity Although Latour is generally received as a philosopher of science, his work is conversant with poststructural currents of continental philosophy that recognize that all truths, subjects, and meanings are contingent rhetorical structures capable of changing. However, Latour departs from the usual suspects, Foucault and Derrida, because unlike his poststructural predecessors, Latour gives critics more to work with than tools for deconstruction. Like Deleuze, he is a builder of worlds. Jettisoning questions of epistemology, Latour transgresses nature/culture, spirit/matter binaries and invents a new ontology beyond the Cartesian worldview. Latour does not privilege the human subject in any capacity because humans are nothing more than an assemblage articulated by both human and nonhuman actors. Objects, therefore, cannot be purified to analytical frameworks because they are part of a complicated network that is fragmented and always moving. In other words, the world is messy and it cannot be reduced to philosophical projects that tend to invoke logics of representation. An ontological shift is thus required to move beyond the dead-ends of epistemological studies that remain inherently indebted to humanism. Latour is rarely taken seriously as philosopher of metaphysics. Object Oriented Ontologist (OOO) Graham Harman (2009), however, considers "Latourian metaphysics" as "the most underrated philosophy of our time" (p. 6) since his work, particularly |
