The zero degree of incommensurability. On Actor-Network Theory as a toolbox

Abstract

In 1972 Gilles Deleuze asserted that a theory is exactly like a toolbox. Thirty-six years later, an Autonomous University of Barcelona’s professor who happens to be an expert on Actor-Network Theory [ANT], told me that ANT should not be taken as a systematic body of knowledge – that is, as a theory – but as a toolbox. Thus I decided approaching three ANT-based articles to see whether they were following the toolbox rationale. Articles were selected using an Internet search engine, which might be taken as the post-modern substitute for randomness. First I present an overview of some ANT principles. Second I deploy my reading of the articles, thickly recounting the traces of ANT concepts. Finally, I conclude that the toolbox metaphor permits to approach different realms far beyond incommensurability.