A Collège de France - CNED coproduction
Abstract
" Today, we are strangely lacking in certainty when it comes to specifying what, in the world, is the work of man and what is the work of God, or, as the saying goes, of "nature". How much of our work is ? How much is totally determined independently of us ? This point has been much discussed over the past decade, often using the slogan "social construction". I hope that this expression, and even part of the debate, will soon be outdated. But I doubt we'll ever be able to put an end to these kinds of questions, which seem to me to be capable of troubling the human mind. So I'm not one of those who talk about the end of philosophy or metaphysics. In fact, I believe that we are often merely transmuting old questions, while leaving certain crucial aspects intact. It's as if we've finished with our ancestors, when in fact we're simply rethinking what was at the heart of their dissatisfaction... "
Ian Hacking
