On the Possibility of Actor-Network Theory of Action

Abstract

The following article engages the problem of agency in actor-network theory, working towards a foundation for an ANT-based theory of action. The problem of agency in contemporary sociology concerns questions about material objects in social interactions. The author analyses two current strategies of ascribing agency to material agents. The first strategy uses the 'aquarium model', allowing us to treat agency as a result of human interaction with the material environment. Material objects are not actors, as they do not have intentionality. Consequently, human and non-human agencies are fundamentally different. This strategy does not allow one to analyze the joint action of people and things, since either the environment or the actors possess agency. The second strategy, peculiar to ANT, is based on denying the ontological status of both humans and non-humans, transferring it to their relations. Agency is understood as the distributed effect of interaction between heterogeneous agents. This allows one to consider hybrid action of human and non-human. However, the actor- network conception of agency encounters some obstacles that stem from its radical relationism. The author analyses Graham Harman's critique of the philosophical assumptions of ANT and explicates the potential pitfalls of the conception of distributed agency. Firstly, there is the problem of the mechanics of ascribing agency, since - by denying any essential differences between humans and non-humans - any kings of relations have to be described in the modality of 'oughtness'. Secondly, there is a problem with the mechanics of distributing agency. This problem is a consequence of the inherently mediated character of action, manifesting itself in the inability to evaluate the relevance of any given object in interaction prior to an observation. In the final sections, the article discusses the solution to those problems as suggested by Bruno Latour in his inquiry of the modes of existence, tracing the directions of future work on an actor-network theory of action.