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Latour's Why Has Critique Run out of Steam?

2004 · Paris (Paris, France)

In 2004 Bruno Latour, a founder of science studies, publishes Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? in Critical Inquiry, asking whether the tools of suspicion his generation forged have been turned to conspiracy and denial. The essay is the movement's self-reckoning from inside, and a marker of its passage into the century's different arguments.

Tagged: Postmodernism

The Event

Date
2004 (exact)
Era
After Postmodernism; Standard periodization of postmodern history
Location
Paris; today Paris, France
Traditions
Postmodernism
Streams
Postmodernism
Key figures
Bruno Latour
Key texts
Why Has Critique Run out of Steam?

Connections

Illustration for The Sokal hoax History Event The Sokal hoax 1996 a founder of the field weighs the wars the hoax opened

Primary Sources

  • Latour, Bruno. Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern. Critical Inquiry 30, 2004.

Secondary Sources

  • Bertens, Hans. The Idea of the Postmodern: A History. London: Routledge, 1995.
  • Hassan, Ihab. The Postmodern Turn. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1987.
  • Hutcheon, Linda. A Poetics of Postmodernism. New York: Routledge, 1988.

Provenance: HIST-1449; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-30.

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