On the Modern Cult of the Factish Gods (Science & Cultural Theory) Book

On the Modern Cult of the Factish Gods continues the project that the anthropologist philosopher and influential science studies theorist Bruno Latour advanced in his book We Have Never Been Modern. There he proposed to re-describe the Enlightenment idea of universal scientific truth arguing that there are no facts separable from their fabrication. In this concise work Latour delves into the "belief in naive belief " the suggestion that fetishes objects invested with mythical powers are fabricated and that "facts" are not. Mobilizing his work in the anthropology of science he uses the notion of "factishes" to explore a way of respecting the objectivity of facts and the power of fetishes without forgetting that both are fabricated. While the fetish-worshipper knows perfectly well that fetishes are man-made the Modern icon-breaker inevitably erects new icons. Yet Moderns sense no contradiction at the core of their work.Latour pursues his critique of critique or of the possibility of mediating between subject and object or the fabricated and the real through the notion of "iconoclash " making productive comparisons between scientific practice and the worship of visual images and of religious icons.