Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
3. Clients
(alliances)
5.
Content
(links &
knots)
2. Scientific
colleagues
(autonomization)
4. Public
representation
1. Nature
(mobilization of the world)
Figure 1.5
Latour's circulatory system of science.
In the first loop, which FitzSimmons titles “nature,” humans investi-
gate natural phenomena, which in turn shape human social behavior.
Farmers have observed the natural world since the beginning of human
civilization. More recently, scientists have joined them in the field, armed
with the scientific method, statistics, and devices to make obscure phe-
nomena visible. They discover how plants (crops, weeds, cover crops)
and animals (livestock, insect pests and their natural enemies) behave in
association in an environment of variable light, heat, water, and soils,
and together they develop insights for improving agriculture. Knowledge
circulates from the field to the university laboratory and then back out
to the field. Scientists organize and categorize their discoveries in the
world, and make them available for scholarly argument.
The second loop, which FitzSimmons titles “scientific colleagues,”
describes how scientists assemble facts and construct institutions devoted
to knowledge. Scientists attempt to validate their discoveries by organiz-
ing knowledge into disciplines, sub-disciplines, specializations, and
scientific communities that will amplify, feed, and validate further inves-
tigations. Peer approval is critical for the reproduction of science.
