Slippery

Field notes in empirical ontology

Bibliographic Data

ID8094328
AuthorsJohn Law (The Open University, corresponding author), Marianne Elisabeth Lien (0000-0002-5216-6219, University of Oslo)
Year2012
Volume43
Issue3
Pages363-378
Publication date2012-09-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Studies of Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0306-3127 • E-ISSN: 1460-3659
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0306312712456947
OpenAlexW2109971136
LanguageEN
Citations received179
References cited59

This paper explores empirical ontology by arguing that realities are enacted in practices. Using the case of Atlantic salmon, it describes a series of scientific and fish-farming practices. Since these practices differ, the paper also argues that different salmon are being enacted within those different practices. The paper explores the precarious choreographies of those practices, considers the ways in which they enact agency and also work to generate Otherness. Finally it emphasises the productivity of practices and notes that they generate not simply particular realities (for instance particular salmon), but also enact a penumbra of not quite realised realities: animals that were almost but not quite created

Agency (philosophy · Best practice · Economics · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Field (mathematics · Ontology · Political science · Productivity · Social science · Sociology · Work (physics · Engineering · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Innovative Human-Technology Interaction · Law · Philosophy · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism