latour - trains of thought - piaget, formalism, and the fifth dimension

8/2/2019 Latour - Trains of Thought - Piaget, Formalism, And the Fifth Dimension

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CON'IMON KNOWLEDGEColutrlNs

On the Publ ic Use of Hrstory:\Why a "DemocracyPrize"fo r Den ie lGo l . lhagen:

Jiirgen Hal:enttasTransiatedby Max Pensky1

llodel I B nndesreprl k :Nat ional History,Democracy, ndInternationalizationn Germany

Danie/Jonah Galdhagen1 0

ARrrcr-rsThe Other Language;

or, Translat ingSensit iv i tyJr/ia Kristu,aTransltrtedby BarbaraBray,

Granvi l leFields,andMichael \Westlaker9

Questroning ncommensurabil i t l 'in EarlyModern Cultural ExchangeDaniel Carel'1 2

Imagining Totality:Rhetorics fand versus Culture"

SusanHegenant 1The Chiming of t he Void:

Poetryand Liberatronin TheSrorl, f theStane

Dore./. Let'1'99The Open Society nd Its Enemies:

Community, Authori ty,Bureaucracy

XL A. Notrrno

Trains of Tl-rou gl-rt:Piaget,Formalism,and the

Fif th DimensionBruttoLatoar

1 7 0

Snr,A.,rrN{yrvrposrul.lCountertransferenceand

the Humanit iesSavages,nfants,and the Sexual i ty f

Others CountertransferencenNlalinowskiand Mead

Ardreu'P. Llonsand Harriet D. Llons7aPosrny/FrcrroN

Nerv Draft for a Phenomenologyof \Woman

hlikl6 HerndtTranslated y Michael Henrv Heim

I I 'Five PoemsPar/ Hoat'ert > 9

Lrlrlp REvrr:wsLisa ard)neLts/ieKo/renerSirJohnBoardnun

RoltertA. RosenstrnteChar/es t,hnsonPbi/ippeCarrarclPaa/ Fe1'erabendAnn)eDi//ard

Sisse/aokCharlesP. K ndl ebergertrlikhai/ Epstein

Tbe Editrtrsr39r22


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REvrew"They ShouldHave Kno'n":

On the Indeterminacy f TimeJoseph rank

l t 0

Norus oN CoNTRTBUToRS1 r ) 2

Please isit the journal's \7orldWide \feb srteathttp://wrvw.oup.co.uk/common

orhttp://v'ww.utdallas.edu/research/common-knowledge/index.html


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Tnnrxs op TsoucHT: Pracer. FoRrtertsu.AND THE Frprn Dr l rgNsrox

BruttoLatour

Pnolocut ' : A Srnol l At-oNc Larr NeucurrL.

f , r rrnny', his morning on LakeNeuchtel , nd winclyand cold. What 'shat br ightII l i tr le shepeout r herei Ah, a sailborrd n the rvind. It 's n-rovrngast.Ho"v fast i ' Icnr.r ld,rsel-reampposts long the qlla)'to t ick t l-re ime it takeshim to pzrss ehindeachof them. \Wirha good Swiss hronometer, knowledgeof l-ro*,ar the sarlboarrdsfrom the land, an evaluationof the angleof i1s 6111ss-notan eas\r ask, given theerrat icmovesof the board-I could come Llpwith a speed; l-rat s. a rauo of distanceover ime. Of course, reallvcor-rldn'tecause'm prerty badat cirlculating, venworsethan at saiLboarding. can onlv play the obsen'er n the margin. Oops, here -res inthe water! Here he is again,back on the board,on a different ack, even steralongthe wavesnorv crested vith the white foirm triggered by t}-re iercerswen'ing wind.Norv thzrthe is closer o me. I seea broadsmile on his face.The sailboarder eems oen oy himself mmensely.He doesnot see ime passing. trange o tr.v o measureimeu,hi lestrol l ing along the lake, during the break betweensessions f a conferen ce n"Piagetand Time."Evenstranger o plav the outsideobserver. f course, couldcalcu-late l-re ailbo ard rajectoryand obtain a ratio, a fbrm, a speed, omething hat 'ouldneither be in t ime, nor in space. timelessnumber. too could reach, rom safeandsolidground, he suregraspof a formalism.But then,wouldn't somethingbe missingl\What,wl-rat xactly,would be missingi'No hurry here.Takeyour time. The meeringis ful l oipsychologists,of phenomenologist s. hey talk abo ut "l ived" t ime. Careful .They have i n ax to grind. They want to crit icize scienti l ic ime, the atemporrr l nd

This paper s a vers ionoi rhe ket note acldress rven at the s l mposrum 'NI ind anclT ime. organized occlebrate he centenar l ' fJean Piaget b i r th in n-e uchtel . he author s ishes o thank nne-Nt l ly ' Perrer-Clermont fbr the invi ta t ion to th is event and for her permiss ion ro publ ish i r in (uua rn Knou et /g


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ropicalcoordinates f wl-rat hey call science.There,he's allenagain,brought downby a sudden ust. Therehe s again,darting awaynow.) s the sailboardermoving l ikean arrow n "l ived" time and spaceiUnlikely. "Lived,"one of theseempty words hathaveno opposite nd aregiven a semblance fprofundit y becausehey appear o att ackthe cold and timelessand spaceless pparatus f de ad reason. F I had managed ocalculate l-re peedof that dart rng sailboarder, n what way would I have abandonedthe "l ived" world of rhis sunnyday in Neuchteli I would haveneeded watch,and abenchmark,and posts,and rulers, and a staff of helpers,and theodolites, he wholeequipmentand crew that Ed H utchins describes o well when he shorvs he nu mberof operations ecessaryo steera dreadnougl 'r tnto SanDiego Harbor.r n what senseare heseoperations ot "l ived"2 n the end I wou ld haveobtaineda speed-rht is, etimeless, pacelessigure, a fbrm, a rat io,on a pieceof paper,held in my l"rand,nsidemy world, along he beach, nder he sun,on the campus.So hen, at no point wouldI have eft the world. I rvould haveadded o Lake Neuchtelanotherpiece,anotherfeature,an observersertinlup apparatuseso ctrlculatesailboard speeds.But the sail-boarder now barelya spot on the horizon) s not adding "fun" to the caiculated peed.He is not adding rhe "l ived" feelingof a sunny morning to the accurate ef init ion of atimelessand spacelessnstant and place. fhy are all thesepsychologists omFarrng"l ived" rime to "real" t ime, "subjective" ime to "objective" imei My calculat ionofspeed, mean my appararLls, y instrrut ionro extractspeed rom the sailboarder,sinside the rvorld wl-rere e sails ast,and is not the depth featureon which his ownpsychological or ld would be bui l t . Horv could be soarrogantas o imagine hat mycalculation ellnes he primary quality of everythingelsei How could I be so orgetfulofrvatches, ndpoles, nd rulers,and crews, nd staff,and compasses,nd serious wisshelpers? specially ere, ust a few hoursafter having visited the Museum of Time inLa Chauxde Fondi No, the watch s not the depth featureofthe horizonbut is addedro rhe world, and so s this tenacious nd ingenious ndustry cuddled n its mountainvalleys, ringing somuch wealth o this doll-house niversity.But then, f I am right,in what sort of world is the sailboardermovingi '(Now, the dark speckand tr iangularwing aregrowing fastagain,straight oward me.)No, no, he s not rn a human,subjec-tive, psychological, ental t ime-space. want no part in painting this tableau,wherethe "lived" world adds fa.lse ut warm colors to a real but bleak reality made o[ mea-surements. He is strl l grinning, going fast oward he beachas f he wanted o skate-board onto the cam pusgreen,stra.ight ut of the lake-enjoying himself mmensely.At the lasrsecondhe briskly veersaway and is gone again.)Enjoyment. That is thespace-rimen rvhichhe resides nd moves.He is no more moving rn space han he isin t ime. He is nor adding a subjectivemorning to real mornings.Subject iveakes o

Edrvin Hutch ins, ( , t ,qui t i , , t u t ln \ \ t l , / (Ctmbr idge: MIT Press. 99 j )


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] - ] ( -OTlNION KNo\\ ' I -EDC;E

real akes.He explo res he mr-rlt ipl icrty f waysof being, he goes rom some o many,from a litt le wind coa hercep1ale,rom a lower to a higher intensity.Yes, hat 's t , hersmoving into enjoyment, ntensity,waysof being,alterations; nd if I want to calcu-late l -r is peed, can, but I rvon't deline he depth of hjs rvorld, rhe backdropof allexiscence,wil l sinrpll ad.la color ro the manl'colors herearealreaclv. avbea grey,a dark color,but sti l l a color.And rhrLs,my dear psvchologist ol leagues.here s noneed o tu rn towar d the mind or subjectivit l t o escaperom cold and objerrive imeto l ind the rich "l ived" rvorldof meaning.To hnd richness. neonl l -has o turn towardthe world itse lf, o the rvind, the fb:rnr, he sun, the snos,-capped ountains n thebackground, he elrnestminiacr-rreity behind ire rarbror.Objective" in-re nd "sub-jective" ime are ike taxesexacted iom what peoples he vorld, hey arenot all thatthese multitucles do and seeanclmeirnand want. \7e irre not fbrcecl o chclosebreverbetrveenosing either rhe leeling of trme or the strucrural eatures f the rvorld.Pro-cessesre no more n t ime than rn space. rocesss a thir . l term, as f t he sailboardingwere movin-e1nro rvays f berng, exploring ts alteritv, csalterations.A third cerm!My G od, aren't 'ou ired of t ry ing or-rthird terms over.rndoverand over.only to hearyour auclience bjecti ("Yes,but t ime is not a meresocial onstruction!" Whosaid trvasT ot I anyrva1,,ut nobody istens.) heir love-hatc rf fairwitl-r cience iisblindedrhenr o th i rd poss ib i l i r i es.f i t i s no tob jcc t rve ,hen r i s sub jec t i ve .f i t i sno t sub jec -tive, then it is objective.Chancesrre hat i f they undcrstood hat I i rm not a socialconstrlrctivist, hey rvould ecoil n horror:"But rhis rs rbjectmetaphysics!Well, toobad, 'm afraid t is. (The sailboarders back norv, old ing his equipment.packing tLlp, eems appy.) ime to resume he session,o hearmoreabout he many cli l ferencesbet*,een he "lived notron of t ime irncl reir l " inre. . . .

TUE Panaoox oF 'rHE TwiN Tnnvrlr:ns

To meet together in order to celebrate ean Piaget'scentenary,we need s(rn)e lte.tillreof rime-fbr instance,his birch cercif icate,ssLred 1'the rvell-or.{anized errchtelbureaucrarcy,he computing of hor.rrsnd daysand months calcr-rlatedn cheannals fastronomers nd by variousBureaus f Longitr .rde-and rvealsohave o rel l on a vener-able Testernradit ion rhat stressesnnrversanesnd prefersnice round nr,rmbersikeI(X)or 1000 ro morc exoricones ike 88 or l l- l or 6(r(rand that puts speciirl nrp hasison someonesbirthpLacensteld ot. fbr instirnce, he cicr' rvherehis books u'ere irscpubl isl -redr from which his f irst grant wasarvarded. . . Simplv to aather1c he rightt ime, 1996, und at t l -re ight place,Neuchtel , t is already lear hat rveneedmaps,inst i tut ions, ecordingdevices, nd tradit ionsof r i t r-ral .

If I remind rhe reirder f rhese rif l ing tletails, r is not to be impolite anrlcrit icizethe t i t le of the conferenceo rvhich was nvited- ' l r lind end Timc"-brrt to stressthat "time" is not something hat is in the "mincl"or that is "thor-rght" v a mind, but


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. f R I N S O t J T H O L

something rooted n a lonlmzlterial rnd technica.l r acticeof record-kcepring,tselfembedded n inst i tut ionsand locii l histories. n philosophical iscussions botrt ime,the rvork of inscr iptionand the fbricationof sii lk1-in the plLrral-is .rl l too ofienforgotten.To recover rme we need o clelve nto rhe macl-rinery f measuring r, forrvhich Neucl-rtel nc l ts region arre nown the rvorld over. The amusing paradox ofrhis internationa l onfrence as o havechosen,n honorofthe localhs16, 1hsrns-the measuremenr,ecording, nd brication f simg5-5hat is well known ro tl-re wisseconomybut t l-rar iagetdid l- ris tmost to i l lnore,cven epress,hroughout his schol-arly life. "Horv rl.reFabricationof Time N'erzrEntered Piagets Xtind" could be the tirleof my somervl-ratmbarr2lsseduk.rgy. . . I do not write here 1s specialiston Piaget,q,hich ofcourseam not, bur asa philosopher fscience nterested n understandingwh y close ttention o the practice ffabricating ime andspacen science nd echnol-ogy hasnot donemore o renew he philosophyof t ime. Piaget, n this respect, tandsashaving expendedmore ener{yn the eflort to ignore he fabricat ionoit ime and irsconsequencesor philosophy han any other ntellectualoi the centurv.

imagine twin travelers. he hrst setsof into ir deep ungle and cuts her way witha l-ratchetlonga trai l thzrt s barelyvisible.Eachminute, assheopensa frvccnrime-tersof pathrvay, hegesmore hn one minute. Shesrveats. er body bears he tracesoF -rer fforts: eachmeter ctrn be read rn the bloody scarsmade by thorns and brokenbrush.The path is cut asshedclvi lnces,r-r t he s cr-rt swell. A sr-rf ler ingody strivesamonl ther suffer ingbodies, ines,grass,and woods.She vi l l no cloubt ememberall her i f everymoment of this excruciirt ing rip chrougl-rhe jungle.She vilL emem-ber it because ach entimeterhasbeenwon throush a complicatedne!{otiationwithorl .rer nr i r ies,brancl-res,nakes, nd stick s rhat were proceeding n other cl irectionsand had other endsand goals.

For comparison,magine tl-re omlort of the other twin, her brother, vho raveledro the confrence, s did, by TGV He sat quietly in his f irst-class, ir-conditionedpassenger arand read his n ewspaper, aying no .rttention o the m.rny places assedby the speedinlrain, al l of which looked o him like landscapesroiected n a movrescreen.He did not ge more rhirn thc rhree hor-rrs f t l-re np. He bears ir tual ly notrace of the journev,except i)r a frv wrinkles on l-ris rousersand maybe the effctsofa few crarnps aused y not ofien enor.rghtretchinghis long lecs, rnd -revil l remem-ber itrle else xcepthaving ravelecl v train instead fplane.Only the articles -reeadin the nervspaper ight be brieflv recaliecl. l l the atomsoisteel, al l the electrons, l lthe gatesand srvitches, l l rhe ef-torts f the train companies, NCF and CFS, rverea/igneJ t tlte rtnrc/ircctirtn. orng fist throuth space n time, complying to the millisec-onclwith the rvorld-fmous \\ ' iss x,rctitu de nd rvith the almost as famousFrencl-rTGV qual i tv oiservice.No negotiarionakrng rhe way,no event,henceno memory ofrnything worth mentioning. An unevtntf i r l tr ip," as he says o 1-ris riend ,hcn gct-t inc of the train.


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\fhycompare hese wins and -row hevagei 'Todirect our attention o a phenome-non rhat s logicall i ,pr ior to the lirbrication [1irns5-1hs relacion etween rdu\zrrd-t an and tranlfrtrnat ion.

With eachmove, he woman traveler s modified and ages; hemay even oseherl i fe en route. The male rraveler emarnsunchansedby his smooth and speedy rip,which only an anonymous omb or, aswe shall see, strike could nterrupt.Thus, thewoman ravelerwil l equate ransportation or displacement) i th modification, ging,history, ransformation,metamorphosis. he male travelerwil l d i f ferent iate wo ap-parently different phenomena:moving through space n tim e, on the one hand, andaging, l iving, suffer ing,parr ic iparing n evenrson the orher.Since he relation be-ts,een ransporta tion nd transformation i l fers n the travelerscases,he produccionof times and spaces, want to argue,wil l be enr)rell,di fferent. he lirst travelerwil lnot differenciate pace, ime, and agingt we wil l call her indifferentit tt ion ntcessra/.)Her twin brother wil l f ind no dif l iculty in distin.quishing vhat s displaced rom theimmutable framework n uhich r is displaced.

The separation etween ime and space n the one hand and entit ies,beings,orevenrs n the other, s zora fundamental istinction,bllt onemadeby toue ravelersnsomevery specific nd historicallvsi tuatedmeansof transporti l t ion.iHence, n dis-cussing ime, we n'rightnot have o pay exclusive ttent ion o the two major relevantposir ions hrrt haveoccupiedmodern philosophers. ime and space renot the New-toman settsorian which events occllr and planets lall along ellipses. But neither arethev orms oior-rrperception, he universal prioris that our mind has o use n orderto fiameor accommodatehe multipl icity oFbeings ndentit ies.Far rom be ing prim-irive tenu. chey rre,on the contrary, nnte.liletuet f the u'ays n w'hich bodiesreltrte oone anorher.S7emust rhereforenk our meditarionon time to a third tra dit ion. theLeibnizian,which considers pace nd time as expressing ome relation between heentiries hemselves. ur insread f a singlespace-time, e wil l generate smanvspacesand trmesas there are types oi relations.'Thus. progressing long jungle rrails wil lnot produce he samespace-times smoving smoothly along networks.t t makesanenormousdifference f that body is a suftring body among other suflring bodiesor arelaxed ir-conditioned xecutive n a bul let train.

' Process is ofcourse taken iiom \}"'hireheads philosophy. The present paper is a meditation comple-menr ing a previousp ieceof mine, Do Sc ien t i l i cObjects Have a Historyi Pasteur nd \fh i tehead in a Batho f L a c r i c A c i c l .C t t t u u n K n o u l e t l g , 5 ( S p r i n g 1 9 9 6 l : ' - 6l . f t e s c a p e t h e n a r r o w l i m i t s o f s o c i a l c o n s t r u c c i v -isnr. rt seenrs hat the history o f scrence cguires more and more onroLolly.- l r is , or i rs rance, ard to express h is n C hinese houghr. accor t l ing o FranoisJul l ien,TfuPropensi t luJ ' t l t iug : ' fo utn l tHr tor lo JF, f l i tacl i rChtua( Cambcidge; ZoneBooks, 1995).'Niels Viggo-Hansen, ProcessThought, Teleology, ancl 1-hermodynamics (a paper presented at thecontr rence n T ime. [ {eat . rnd Orcler , Aarhus,Sepcembr r1991),and h is Ph.D. d iss. fbr thcoming).- O n t h c n o r i o n o 1 - r ra i l s , s e c A c l r i an C u s s i n s ,C o n t e n t , E m b o d i nr e n t , a n c l O b j e c ti v i t y ' : T h e T h e o r y o iCrr- {n i t rve n i ls . ,11ra.1( l I (Octob rer'X) l ) : 651 88.


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\Zhars this di f ferencei 'Canvemake t moreprecise/Yes, f we take nro i rccountthe number and ni l tureof the others ,i th rvhich each raveler s involved. n spiteofhis smoorh trip-l neglecred o mencion thi5 s111lis1-somethingmarked andshockecl ur male traveler. rnd rnadehis trip memorable.The train passed t lt0kilomerers n hour withcrutstoppingt Culoz, l-re lace vhere ll t rainsbound or t l -reAlps and Switzerland sed o sropunt i l a fewyears go.He remembered akeBourget,with its clecks nd buffet, to rvhich he stop at Culoz gavehis fanri l y accessvhenhewas a child. \What used o be an tmportanrp/arzhad becomea nonexistenr,undrffren-tiated irslant along the train's route. For chis traveler, he event rvas he very fact tharnothing in the stirt ioncould n-r i rkehis plrrce ventfLrl,memorable,markirble, n p: is-sengers ivesany more.Further, he nat ivesof this l i tt le town no longerhad the cl ig-nity of being able o stop the rrain, to board t or al ight from it. Tl-re atives' ies tothe srat ionhad earl ier esembled he i i irnas iour femaie raveler, locking rlre patl-r-way', orcingpassengerso make detours,accept elals, vait or later rainsi hose ieshaving beencut as he trvin hacl ut her l ianas, he tracksat Culoz norv esembled heopen pirth that shehad left thro up;h he jtrngle.This l i tt le station had cotrnted, t nolonger counts. t interrupredpassengersrips, it no longer nterrupts hem. I t v 'asastation, t is no longera station.The rails, vellal igned,now mn in only onedirection,from Paris o Geneva.

So the difference between the trips that our trvins took comes rom the nrnber of 'oThersne has o rake into accor"rnt, nd from the naturt of thoseothers.Are rhey rvell-al igned interaeditrres, aking no fuss rnd no histo ry and thus allowing a smoorhpssage,or lull aediator:rdefining pirrhs and lates on their orvn termsl Are theyreal lyothers-that is. mediacors-or are rhey more of the same-rhat is, ntermedi-aries/Timing depends n that sort of onrological i fference, or on the rnind'sapper-ception. f other entit ies lre necessar)'br or-rr xistenceand surpriseus), hen timesnnd spaces il l proliferate. n the op1'rosi tease, imes rnd spirces il l rarei j ' ro thepornt of becoming rlt: ime-space! r even!as rvesl-ral l ee, a time and aaspace, nly

\f le cannow situl l reour twins aLong nedimension lrat takes nco2rccounthe raticrof transf-ormationver transportatlon r else he number of mediator scomprllsds.the number of inter mediaries. ut i f we rvant o esczrfrehe usualoppositionbetweensublective ndobjective ime. $'ecan go further and rnragine second imen sion hatwil l obtarn or us a r ichergrid to devclopour discr-rssionf t ime-spaceabrication.Todeline his second imens ion,s'e m.ryconnectour twins'biographi es n one scenarioand insi st now on tbt /tbr,rnr(rssrvro rcachone posit ion fron-r he ot l -rer.mrrgine,firr nsrance,hat thr female i l rn is a surveyor entby company o explore he futurepath of a bul let train. a pirth rhet s' i l l in a fw vearsbe planned,desrgned, i -rnded,bui l t , successtullvompleted, nd erentual l l 'usedbv her fbrgetf i r lbrother+'earinghispin-stripedsuit . Each ocus.carh si tc that, before,had blockedor slowedhis sister'sprogress, ging her lnd clusinr: htr p.rin. i irsnow been urned into a well-aLigned


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1 6 ( .oMNto\ K--O\\ 'LEt)L' ,E

intermedian' l rat lends ts fbrce,goal, rvi l l , or end to the path of the rushing train.Each tree, house.hut, v ine in the path of the bul let t rain hirsbeen rentl hence herrain's peed-nothing inrerru1.15t t ' rr lorvs t down. Speed ru ciallydepends n thenumber of intermediaries elarrve o rhe nunrberof medrators. he speed f the trainand the uneventfLr lrip oithe passenger reentlrely dependent n the complercobedi-e 'aczithe phces raversed-and alsooicourseon the smooth uncrioningof t l -re raincompn\' 's rgirnizirt ion rnning, as he savin.q oes, l ike clockwork."

Hou'ever,our story cor-r ld lsogo in the other direction.The inhabitants,whosec i tv hasbeend iv idedb1 ' the l i ne , mr l dec ide o pro tes tb1 's i t t i ngon t i re r i i cksorevenput t ing logson rhe ra il sand se t t ing hem c rn i re not n Swi tze r land .fco l r rse ,t l ' ratwould be unthinkable;but let us szry n the Frenchsection!). hen what wouidhirppeni'The :rssengersn the train sould start o age.The crainblocked. hel 'rvoulclbe stuck n rhis o them meaningless amlet.u'hichhas,because f the protest, ecomea meaningfulplace,a site, an event-produ cing0p0r. ostages f fbrtune, he passen-gersu, i l l start remembering his tr ip. They wil l begin ro lee l the psst lgef t ime andto fe l ime go ing s lo rv ly r fas t .The l 'w i l l beg in o have he impress ion f a " l i ved"time and space hat they did not have vhen he cr;r in r, . tsmovinplqtrickly,unevent-fir l ly. Buseswil l have ro rake rhem arv:rv lom rhe sracionand thel 'rv i l l losehoursbecause f the angrl ' clemonstratorsvho, i>r heir part , rv i ll h irvebeen"making his-tory," aking pride in their strengt l -r ,nd knorvrngonceagain hat they arenot l ivinlin l no-place hirrcrrnbe craverseclr high speed rs f i t rvere l route o someplace lse,bur a nremoruble pot to be reckonecl i th, negotiated"vi t l -r . o trseanot l-rerl ich,angrvdemonstrators 'i l l be proud oihaving put cl-reiri t t le vil lage "on the mrp.

Ler us pursr-reur srort to i ts end. Imagine the revolt happening:rt eachstat ionalong the railwav and alsoon eachroad t lr :r t the br-rsesre Lrsing o get around heblockades. Ve wolrld th en be back in the jungle rve startedwirh. Eachcentimetern'ould havc to be negoriated. nd ir w,ouldbe impossible or an1'oneo go straightahead ' i thout beingdeeplyand durably modihed.Each ransportationwould be paidtirr with a huge rransformation , dur ableand memorablen-retamorphosis.' '

M) ' l i r r l e s rury . 'h i chcons is tedr ig ina l l l 'o f he ' "vonranrar .e le rn her ung leandher male trvin in his bul let t rain, hasbeenenrichedby t l . re ddition of a progressivepassagerom che riril to l high-speed railu'ay nerwork tnd t retertt'passaf{eiom net-work ro jungle rvhere ver):mve has o be disctrssednd won the har d wi1v. hus wenow have wo dimensronso take nto account n discussing pace nd time constru c-cion:one thtrt defines he ra tio crftransformntion ver rransportati on nd onechatde-fines he relative t ' i t i l , i l i t . lof the work to be clc.,nen orcler o obtain a displacement.

' A l c h o u g h r n l s t o r v i s a c h o rr g h r c x l . er i mc n t . i n t h e A m. t z o n I h u r e s e c n a k r r n t e r h i g h * r v r l k c n o v e rb v a j u n t l e even mo r i mp e n e t r r rb l e r h r n r h e o r i g i r a i r r a i l t h e r e l n d i a n s f e a r e c l t r t r e a d .


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This givesus the fol lowing diagram:

lansportationTransformation

MakingIntermediariesMaLingMediations

-Nlost o i the rvork of Isabel icStrngerspuzz le :how to understand l t r r fo r .hr r t is ts( iv l innerpol is : n ivers i t l o f NI i rnc\( r t . iPrus\i t r t l t ' l , to l . I (Par is : a l )couvcr r . . l ' t ' t r , ,

l R A l \ \ L ) l T l l ( ) l ( , 1 1 1 l - -

-fwin in the 'GV

s i rh and then rv i thout I lya Pr igog ine has been done on ch is' ' r in reis ik c not i r ing. See sabel leStengers,ut r r an l I t 'u t ) , tui()9r). and Llnttntron,/r /t nry'ttt)t1ut: utttir tt raiittt. Lorn,uft/-

Twin in thej ung l eInv is ib le

No Wt'rrk

The first rwrn producesmedirt ions, shesees nd feels he rvork of tr ansformationand is unable o differentiate pace nd trme on the one h;rnd,and moving bodiesonrheorher:nor does heclifferenciateerown suffer inl ody'fron-rl l rheothers hrouglrwhich she s slowly drudging. The engineer s arvare ithe massof work necessitryoprodLrce alculat ion,ramesoi reference,mooth ransi t ; but his energy s invested nmaking sure hat the rout ine nst i tut ionson which transportati on epends re unning"l ike clockwork."The second win sees o di f f icul ty in distinguishinga moving bodvfrom a circumscribedrameof refrence,ince he rvorkoi the othershirs ecome nvrs-ible and sinceno rrans formation brceshim to pay for his tnnsportasjon- sxcgpl ef'coLrrsehe price of the ticker. For him, as Forall the irngelicphilosophers iplrysicswho play the role of Queenoithe Night, "t ime is ike nothing."-Tl-re assengervlrosetrarn l-ras uddenlystoppedbecause f the riot doesnot seemore of the 'ork of media-tion than the Newtonian philosopher. ut he feels he passage f t ime and the inrpor-tanceof space. ware har somethingwaswronl n his previoussense f t imclessnessand spacelessness,e concenrra tes ttention on his "l i " 'ed" t in-re nd space, s ri thisphenomenonwerepsychological, r,rman,ubjective. {ostof the debaresn the philos-ophl 'of t ime, facedwitl-rour evermorecomplicated rory,u,ouldoppose hc rso rr.r inpassengersn the riaht ideof the diagram above: l-re ne or whom there s no time,tl-re ther who harborsa subjective eeling for time. Bu t if rvealight from tl-r e ririn anddirect our arrenrionalso o the institutions responsibleor making sure that rr; i lnsarriveon rime, to the revoltsen rolrtewherespace nd inrearedeterminedon the spot,and co he processeshroughs'hich those nstirurions re bLulc r thosemovements re

" ( -onstruct ion


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l r g C O I { I t O . 'K h v o V ' L I D G E

quirshed,sveshouldbe able ro add irnotherdin-rensiono the debates.what are rhelessonshirt we candrirw by rhinking in rrvo dimensionsnsteadof 'onei,First , lreclisrinction etrveen ubjecrive nd oblective ime rsonly piirt of rhestory.

The distincrionconcerns nll 'rrain passenlers.irh rhe norion of obiectiveor scren-ti l ic r ime, trvoentirel l 'di l ferent plrenomena re umped togerher: lre outinizedworkof engineersns.ideruge nsticutions s rakenas hough equivalent o rhe felingof a"user"who, becarrsel-re ngineers re rvarchingday or nighr over his safepassage,sallorved o forget he work of m,rking ime. Sin-ri larly , i th rhe nocionof srrbjecrive r"l iveci" ime, tlvo enrirelvdifferentquescions reconfused:irst , he surprise el t bl ,a"user"when the smooth running of time machinery s interrupced-rop right o[ thediagram, rndsecond, he laborof thoseengaged n processeso itcle rourinized harthe diflerence etweensubjectivicv nd objectiviry cannorevenbe recognized-bot -tom left of rhe diagram. Tl-rose f us who explore he inrensicyof mulr iple beingscannotbe accountedbr bv rely ingon a subjective e{ini t ionofan inrernalsrate fsur-prise.

Second.ime is not in itself a primary phenomenon. ime passes r not depenrJingon the al ignrt tentf otherentit les. n a world madeof intermediarie s, f displacementrvi thout transfbrmation, here s a rime separatedrom space, n immutable frame omeasufe isplacements nd, by delinit ion, no process.n a world madeof mediations,of transportati on y deformation, herearea lor of t imesand places.Deeper han imeis the quest ionof the obedience nd disobedience f h.mirns or nonhumans.,

Third. the notionof etr 'nr i lnnotbedilferentiated nto spatialand temporalcompo-nents. fa placecountsasa no-prlacet alsocounrsasa non-evenr.Place s not a featureeasier o understand han time. \fhen a placecountsasa lpo.t. r a.lso ounts asa kairo.r.Deeper than time and space here is ilnother question abeut lyho or whar collrrs.which acranrs an interrupr, modi[ ', interesr,or inrerfereu, i rh which others, husprodircing as many trtpoi-traini/

Fourth, to ralk l ike rhe semioticians,here rrealways, imultaneously t rvork neachaccount,a shifr in space, shi fr in r ime, and a shifr in acr oror acranr, he asroftheseahvays crrgottenn philosophical r psychological rscussions. y story of chewoman rraveler n the jungle, -or nstance, enrvou, rhe reader, long he threedi i fer_ent axesat once:at another ime, in anotherplace,but also n someone lse's harac-ter.r"Deeper hirn he questionof rin're nd spaces the very acrof shifring-deleg at-

Ji rcqLtesLr l l ivr . . .L l ) [ t leen, t l t t t (u i tb1en| i .J, i i .Pol i t tq t , t t | t t jvaa: / f ' | , |1 te\ | i l | /0n | l i(thiit tl edotrtt. Unir.ersir r\{onrpellier I, 199:).'Hur l lan ' rnonhumanis a technica lexpress ion hat doesnor rep lace ub jec t i ob jec t ur makes he la t terdo. inother ph i losophica l ob. Seemy'ar t ic le On Technica lled iacron-Phr losophy, Soc ig log l .Genealogr ' , 'Lonttrt Knttr tlgr j (Fall 1(.191); 9-6 j.l"Seuioti;i au'i Lat{rdg,: An Art/1tr;,t/ L)/trti,1./r\. ed. Algirdas Julien Greinr.rs and Joseph courrs(Bloomington: Ind ianaLln ivers i rvPress. g fJl ) .


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f R A l \ s ( , 1 - H ( ) l ( , H T l - ,

ing, sendingaway, ranslating.We shor-r ld ot speakof t ime, space, nd actant butrarherof temporalization, patial ization, crantial ization the words are horrible) or,moreelegantly, f t iuin.q. paJtt. rLtut l .

Fifrh, and l inally, the quest ionof spacing, iming, and acting should alwaysbecombinedwith that of their )nter.r i t1.7hat hasoccurred-a n event or a non-event/Processs not in itse lf associated ith t ime more than witl-rspace.Processs not thefourth dimension,but tffth.Thu is well known, as ar as ime is concerned, incewehaveused at leastsinceHusserl) he not ion of "historicity" in order to diffren tiateprocess rom the "simple" pssage i lirns-n5 measuredby tl-re vatcl-rmore on tl-rislater). But the sameshould be true f-orspace, l-rough here is no spatial term asu'idelyaccepted s"historicity" is for t ime. To differentiate he intensityofbeing in a space,a topos-kairos.rom simply being locatedon a map, we wou ld need a term as clear-cutas "histor ic i ry."When,as n my narrativeof the twins, a no-placebecomes masterplace,a chef- l iet . tapl.t. e should be able o say htrt t gains "sp/citcity" or "si tu.rt-edness.""The samegoesFor he shift in actantiality. We should havea word that differ-entiates he move rom one actant o another-extensive repetit i6n-f 166 the modi-l icarionof all the actants-intensrve repet i t ion.Unfortunately, here s no such erm.Sincewe do no t l-ravehe requisi te r iad of concepts, havechosen o use he simplecontrastbetween rail making and network lol lowing, between ranspor tartionrl l / :transformation and transformation uit/tL,//t eformati on, zrndam usins the word inlen-: l /_ ; o t race h is i f i h d imcns i t ,n .$Tri ters ike Bergsonwith his distinction betweenspatial izationand durat ion,Pguy wit l -r -r is ontrastbetrveen l-re istory of historians nd the I-r istory f events, ' lWhitehead rvith his insist ence n process, eleuzewith his earlywork on differenceand reperit ion,wereobsessed1'thequestionofthe intensityoftime asopposed o it sexpansion.he dif lculty in using therr insights o trace he f i f th dimensionof processis that they were engaged n a battle with what they strwas r scienti l lcdelinit ion oftrme and space. he diff iculty alsocomes rom their r-rnfir lyavoring ime over spircein order o avoid r ' , 'hat l -rey awas he inherentspatial ization roducedby science,sif processwere in any way more easily connectedwitl-r time than witl-r space.So tl-ratmy burdennow is to shift attention o the labor hat goes nto the abricationofspacesand rimes-we areshift ing fiom right to lef t in the diagramabove-in order hat rvenot takescientif ic ractice egardingspace nd time asobjective ime ancl pace; alsowanr ro redresshe imbalance etween pace rnd ime by using rvork recentlydone ntechnology tudies.

" .\l!,liarct has been proposed by ugusrrn Berque, Dz Xertr /d L)ti: nua urbtiwi litr turit/ tr Jtpun(Par is :Gal l imard. I 99.1) .rNever translatecl nro English. Charles Pgrrl is probably rh e grearest French prose rvriter and nodoubt the deepestpli i losopher oi rimc. Se eespecialiv 'C/ia: l it lugrt Je ltitoire tt / )rrt pdiettt." in Ottrrtle t t rose.( )0c)- l t )1 l (Par is :Gal l imard, l96 l ) .


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I 8 0 ( _ ( ) I f 1 ( ) N K N O \ r ' t . E I ) ( ; I

PnocnssrNc Trun nso SpacsIf I have aken the case f a train for my paradoxof the twin travelers,t is not onlybeciruse am ir firnof the TGV rrnt la rrear admirer of rhe "RatrscheBahn" eading ot l -reNietzschean al leyof the Upper Engadine,but alsobecause wish to honor thatmost fmousS*' issengineer ion'rZurich, Albert Einstein.obsessedy bul lers,crains.and clocks. \fhat I i rm going ro arIue hould be obvious ro La Chaux de Fondclockmakers. o Genevir r i r in c(,mf. lnymrnirgcrs. o Zurich bar nkers:he fabricationofa certain ype ofsprce-time-actor rtrcial ly epends n our abi l icy o measurenrer-valsbv rely ingon bodies hat have l-re trangepecul iar i t l 'of remaining 6xed hrouchmorion: pl i lners, ll ine stones, endr-rlr-rms,ul lers,sclles, eometrical hapes, rnd fcourse rains,cars. atel l i tes, ank accounts. s many scholars zrvemadeclear, ' ' hereis in or-tr ivi l izari on r hxationon horvbest o tr ,rnsporr omehing vithorrtdeformingit, an infirtttationwith what I havecallecl immutable mobiles."To rhe searchor con-stants that is. br what cirnbe carrrecll roundanrl resists elcrrmationn spireof trans-portation), anvtl-ringwil l be sacrif iced-even, as in thc c: rse i Einsteins relativicytheorr ' , l -re erv deflnit ion of Eucl idianspaceand clockwork rime. Piagetof coursesl-rareshis obsession,o the poinr of having tr,rrned he abiLrty o consen,e onsranrsrhrough transport i rt ionnro the very clef ini t ionof intell isence ancl nto rhe bestwa vto c l i sc ingu ishts success iveta les) . r 'As e n , i l l see , nv rh in{w i l l be sacr il l ced yhim, real lvertr . lTl t ing.o this conservarion f constirnts.

Insteadoi cakingclisplacenrentvi thout defbrmationasan obvious ature i rvhatthe q'or ld is l ike, as so many philosophers f time and rrain passengersend to do. Isimply rvanrnow to Lrse he ich l i terarLrren rhe tirbricarion f rime and space o lreethe f i f th dimensionof t ime from both i ts subjective nd objective nterpretation s. owis r l re discussit)n hangedwhen the wr>rknecessiiryo consrrucrscientif ic acrsandtechnical rtefctss againbecomrng isible:'The irst hing ro do is ro elevare pacrngto t l resame h i losoph ica lign i tv as in - r ins .F.rr rom being obviorrs ommonsenseerms, "spacing"and timing are n fcrqLrtedifhcult to tel l apart.Through what sort oi labor clo veprodtrce he distincrionbet,een pace nd time?The quesrion s not i rs rivial as t see ms. or insrance, helegendarywanderingJew cannotdist inguish he rwo, everyspot nlong his wav being

Anton! n t . tnvochers. t i runcl . r rcrcular i l 'e l ev ln t ( ler , t i rc l Bos 'ker . Secon . iNa turc Once Renr t rved :-l ' inrc. Sfacc. .rnd Rcl.resenrrriols. 'l tt t ttJ S,utt1 i. I ( I 995 r: i--66: Davicl S. Landes. Rrt,,ltt irn rn I tue:Chckr . r r , / th t , \ l , rLi rg , t l / t , , \1 , " / rv11l i r - l r / ( ( .ambr i i lce: lanarr l l ,n ivers i rvPress. g l l l ) ;Ot to\ [n t r ,At t l .n t i t1 ,I )hnt . r rJ At r , t t i , r i i ; \ l t , l : tn r t j t F , , t r l t \1 ,u l tnrr r r r ,pr Br l r i n rore :Jc , l rnHopkins L]n ivers i r t Press, g l l ( r ) :DanielR.HceJrrck. - [ / l tT , t t , lLr , l1Pr ' ' . i t t l l :7 i l l l l , l t ' ' Tunl1 t l t l r / l , \ (4 | l t1 ler l l l t iu(Jx tord Lin iversrrvPress, 9 f l f l ) ;S imon Schat ir . Babbage In tel l igence:Calcula t rncEnginesand rhe Fac-torv Svs tcm. (r t tu, r l I rq t t r l l1 (Fa l l l ! )c) . i ) : { ) l - l - l \ \ t ,1 fuangSch ivc lbusch .[ l :LRa i l u t t - lunn1: Tbtl / r /xt ! r . , . / / t . , t l | , t lt /T t t t . t t , /5p, t i , t l t /+ l I ) l i ,Ct t t t r . l tBerkc ler :L,n i rcrs i r t oiC.r l i f i r rn iaPrcss. t )86) ; Er i ; rarZ e r u b r r e l . ' l l : ' S , t t r L ) a 1 r r l t : ' [ l t H i , t , t t t n l . \ l t t t ) t g q t l t \ \ ? t L ( L o n r l o n : o l l i c r N { a c m i l L a n ,9 8 5 ) .' . l ran Pi rger rnd Rol r rn r l o larci r . P, r r, , ( ra . ' . t l t ) tn i r , . i , ' / r / / ! !J Prr is : F lamnrrr ion, 98 j ) .


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T R A I N sFT I t O I i ( ; [ { T S I

alsoa date.Sincehe never tr i lcrs is step.never tas n the sirmePlace. ever ettles,nevercomesback, l 'reres no nreaning irr l-un-rn r l te not ion oi"place" di frentrablefrom "date"-except, of course, n the caseof the City of Jertrsalem,vhich l ie wil lreach next vear."His i t inerirn- s n-radc i "dare-places."It is only becanse\' e conreback o the same rlaceover llnd over th.lt we generlrte he noticlrrof a plzrce, f , \ t0J)0s.that lasts nd stays he same, vl-ri le e havemoved.Tl-re izeoithe castle f Chrtelpcr-ron diminishes rreversiblv n the clistancers he wan!iering ri rvelermovesarval ' f romit . I r is thus as much part oi t ime as the hour spenc 'valkrng v. Only ii the walkersrops;1ndeverses is stepsdoes l -re asrle ize eversetselfand grow again,and onlythen cirn l revol ' : rger onclude hat this i -s place atber h:rna d:rte. t is rn conrparrngthe irreversibil i ry'of is aging body rvit[r he reversibil i tyof t l ' re astle's ize hat he isable o make sense f the expressionspace nd time." F'ollowins he usualdehnitiono fspr rce s the "ser ies fcoex is tences"nr l o i t ime as rhe "-er iesfsuccessrons , 'hededuces: l havechangedand t l "re ast lehas not; thus there s a space, somen'hatIonger asting andscape,nsicle f which I moveand Lrse"-spaceoffering he measurel i r r r ime.end r ime he mc i rs t l r (u r sp : t t .

Thus, we cannot say that the casrle s "in" spacesince we claim rhat t imesand spirces-right sideo[the diagram-are {enerir tedy a type of work, anclby t l -redisplzrcemenri kinds of bodies, ha r rend to rem:iin nvrsible. {'e should sa} tharthe traveler's isplacement, y his returning, lus ptrt the castle nto space nsteadoftime, t l-rat his move has,so o speak, spaced" t. But rvl-ry oes he czrstle xist ntlctafter rire raveler rasdescendedhe rrount/ Cerrainlvchis oo hasco be rccountcd or."CasrLesn Spain," "c21st lesn the arr," would not harve his abil i ty. If everythinlchanged at the silme teiltl)o s the trirveler, he rvoLrldnever be able to meeisure hcchangesn shape, ven1fhe could rccrrrcc is steps:he rvould haveageci, rr t he cirst letoo would be so drfferent hat he could nevcr be sure l -rat t s,asnot anothercastle.anotherdate-place. ven Heracl i tus proverbial iver doesnot f i lowat the s.ime peedas ts embankmenr. Wenow encounrer he mportance itecirniqrres li:rt I rvi l l de6neasa verv peculiarwayofJi /diug imes and actants idifferent qtralit ies nd tcmpos.r'

The castleof Chatelperron, crosshe fbot oi wlrich the travelerpassed rvo hoursajo.was renovrrredbur t 'e irrsbef-ore. as built eight cenruriesearl ier on an earthmound elevated wo hundredyears revious o that, rvith stonesIenerated-rundredsof mil l ions of 1'earsn the past-leaving lside momentarih'the qr-restionf mcasLrre-menrson these rf ferent imescales.n orherworcls, vhatmakes he rraveler ncountera place,a topat,s the conneccion f trctions irking place n varioussitesand times bt.various cranrs. he hard aboroffeudalvi l leinshervint hugesrones ndpurt ing t l -remin p lace s presencoday,asmuch as he Labor ithc ancientseas nd tel luric.r ctiviricsof the geologicalpast, and lrs mlrch as he more recent rvork by tl-re ourageolls wner

' S re mr" On l rchn ica l Nlet l i . rc ion n.tserg,Michael L1nch, nc l Yr jo Engt lsr r i i r r . 9aborc) . and On Inrerob ject iv i r r . rv i th c l iscussronv NIarL\[)i l. Ctltrr'. ,trJ .\irit it t ]. i (l !)t)(i): l8 - ii .


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ItJ] C-OMN'ONNO\X, 'LEDGF,

wl-ro ixed the roof and consolidated hgwxl[5-n1)r ro menrion he Neanderrhal ave-men who placedCharelperron n rhe paleonrologists' enrerlmap. Far from being apoint in an isotropicspace, he "sp/ci l ic," si tuated"site met by the travelerwho re-rurns becomesLt.zt tnt ' t ia i lf inreri rcr ions ispersed n tinre. space, nd acrion,andreassembled,ept up, insrituted n an event-producing rpr.r .Because f the ancient,enormous, nd continltousmass f work connecting sri()usnccracrions verages, hecastlesti l l holds,ntakesspace,makeshistorv,breaks l 'reconrinLriry f vision, bendsattention, nterrupts he travels fvoyagers, reates ierarchies, nd thus the wandererat r ts foor righrly leels har it differs iom hrsown fasr-aging lesh.He passes,nd rhecastledoesnot. The castle -roldsts ground, occrrprespace, reares landscape, e-comes a thef-/iett, vhatever he proper expression.nor becauset is a spot "in space,but becalrset is itself the event connecring nteracrions n ir large spreadof space-time-actants.Here history was locallv made and rradir ionskept the casrle onrinLl-ous l ) n p lace .Hence , here s,zp lace .

Ir might seem trange o dene echniclues swhat connecrsnteractions rom dif-ferenc i rr-res,laces, nd actirncs, ut it is necessary hen rve rrtend o delegzrcionndshifting. Tke the very simple example of a mousetrap set r,rp o deal rvitl-r he manymice that Live n my houseat che oot of Chatelperron.t took ren minutes br Korcanrvorkers o make tltem lirstyear n rheir sweatshops, nrlnute for the imporriexporrtradecompany o order hem by fax, rhreemonrhs ro carryrhem in a container crossrhe EirstAsian rade outes. c took me a lew minutesand a ferv iancs o bu1'clrem cthe localhardware hop asrweek; am presenrly )urr ing Swiss heese n rhe nail and,cautiousl\ ', etring he spring, making sure r is not m) {inger rhat gets snappedbythe minirr turegui l lot ine. . . . Tonrght. he kinet ic energyof t l -re pring ser n placebvmy actionwil l be unleashedn my abs ence ssoonasa mouse tarrs ni fhng he cheese.Hon'many i lcrorsare presenr s 6n6s7-Ksrean vorkers, French raders,wood fromthe mounrain,cheeserom the AIps, my ac ion of vesterday elegated o the spring ofthisoldestof techniqr-res,he trap.Nfore rimrtiveJmorebasic l-ran poinr in .rn sorop-ic space is this subtle weaving rogerher of interactions mong many plnes.times, and typesof marerial: tl-reweek-old n-rouse ody, rhe month-old cl-reese,he age-old trap, rhe ive-t ,ear-oldood, he night-old actionofrhe exsperateditchenowner,al l of tlrem contnbuting to rhis very humble ropos-kairos.o an evenr-producirrg por-ancl rc is certarnlyan evenr for the mouse who wil l meet ics deach, am hopeful ,ron ishr .

\(/eneverencounter ime and space, u c rathera mulripl icity of interactionswithactants hat have heir orvn riming, spacing, oals,means, nd ends.Nothing in rhemind, nothing, but a lot in the know-horvof thosewho, by clever echnicalacrion,can weave ogerher ypesof acranrschat rvere mmiscible tr momenr befclre.Wharcould be f ,rr therapart than Korean sweatshops nd SwisscheeseiYet theseare nowconnected y the shorrcutoia mouserrap. ong before ,ecan ralk of space nd time,


16/24

TRINS FTHOTJGI I l -JJ ]

it is hese ortsofconnectrons, hortcircurts. ranslations,lssociarions,nd mediationsthat rveencounrer, ar i ly.

\f leegister hesemany dif lrencesn t iming and relative esistancehrough chevarious nstruments rrvented y scienti l icdisciplines in t l -reargesr ense f rhe word)to recordand document hem, and it is at this poinr that we musr shift from technol-ogy studies o science tudies. n what ma1'be he mosr unfrraccolrrto[science ivenby any pl"ri losopher,ergson rit icizedscientists or being unable o pay arrenrion odurat ion, ro "la,, /nre," ecause, ccording o him, scientisrs lways urned i t intomeaningless nd timelesssptialdelineations. n extravagerntlaim, sincesclenrlsrsare the oneswho made it possible o speakof the "longtudtte."of rhe eonsof biologyand geologyout of which Bergson ould make his "creat ive volut ion." 7i t l ' routLin-naeus,without Cuvier, rv i thout Lamarck, v i thout Daru' in, rhere wor.rldbe no longhistoryof l i f fbr Bergsono pit against he obsessionbr geometryandspace. l-re eryideaof an evolut ionunfolding overbil l ions of years merges ut of the narlrralhisrorymuseumsand the collections f geologists.What Bergsonpurs asideu,henhe poseshis vain opposrrion etween he warm and rich durarionoftime and rhe poorand coldspatial ization i mi nd is the work of regiscering ifferences,i re work of the cleverscientists, nother abor hat philosophers ave gnoredasmuch as he)'have he workoi r l -re bleengineers.

O[ the instrumentsoverlookedby pli i losophers, erhaps he mosr interesnng nthis context,becauset is a trap for t ime, nor mice, s the rhotographic un of Erienne-JulesMarey,a conremporary f Bergson nd Einstein.N{arey nvenredhis gun in orderto visual ize he precisemorions of doves n fl ight. He was cerrainl\, ' or arrcnrFrrngthereby o "geometrize' he passage f t in-re; e rvasattempnng to produce lme .zJnttL'/: s space.r('vlore exactly, iis labors produced something enrrrely- ifferenr fromeitlrer, n'lrich \\'e nray call s1noptirit.1.n rhe samew\r asattenr'on ro rechnicitlknorv-how completely' ubverts he defining oi a cime and space, ince t wreakshavoconinreractionsby creating eventsand topoi,attemron ro s\rnoprlciry, o rr'hatcan be seenright arvay y a scientist, ompletely e distributes he abil i ty of scienristso know, tosee, o imagine.co hink an)' thinl t al l . ' - \What s important abor.rr arey ookinc atthe successivemages of the dove in fl ight) impressed n rhe circular silver-coatedplate s not, in spi teof Bergsons ondemnatron,hat he has ost thepn.t . t rgeit ime, ofdulssiqn-j6 is preciseiy'co ose t thar he secour to invent his pliocographic r-r n.

NIarta Brrrur. Pi,trriu.q.'l ' in,: Tl,, \\i,rk al Errnnt--f /,i ,\lattt (C-hrcaro:Universirr ol Chicaqo Prt-ss.l ')')l)r FranoisD.ruoilnct. Ett,rtt,--Jrlt ' ,\[are1: \ Ptiri,tu lt the 7i:ai (Crmbridge: Zonc Brroks, 199]).' -Forent r l in torrhr t isnosrhugcl i tera tur t ' ,see- [ / teRigbt ' fa t / : lot t / :e- l t l : At \ l i t l i i l ' fuet t ie!b-Cut t r lI . i J t Scrnce: .d. Adie Ci , i rkc . rn . l l o . rnH. I ru j imura (Pr inceton: Pr inceronLnivers i t r Pre ss, 99 l ) , ar rdR4)E.\ti lt,ti l i ii l S.Lilttl iL Pr./,,/, ', i e(l Ifrchael L1'nch and Sreve \X/ooigar (Cambridge: IIT Press, 199()),l9 ( r8 :see lsomt ar t t r l r . Th. Pt t l , , l t ' iBoa Vis ta ; A Photo-Phi losophicrrJ{ontage, Lounn Kut t / t , / r rI ( S p r r n g 9 9 > ) : + 1 8 - .


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l 8 { C-OI I \ tON Kr-O\\ 'LEDGE

Marey n,irs rter ly fd up with dtrre. i th invisible,obscure. nd Lrncontrollableat-ternsof f i ight thar are not seizable,ixable,catcl.rable.rshe {1yingdove did not l ive" in cin.re" etbrebeing ki l led b v a gun "in space." he photographic jundoesnot ki l l ,and rvl-rat as mportant for Marey is that the events n the sky can now recur,hundredsoitimes at rvill in the Station /.ttsia/rtgiqruf rhe Collge de France.Marey is not reduc-ing tlre lived and rich drrie of tl-re ove for a poor and cold Ieomerry.On the contrary,he is adling to the fl igirr o[ the dove,adding somerhingneverexperienced n earrhbetbre, he enraptsling contemplationof the dove'ssuccessive otions transformed,on the plete, nto coexisting hapes. e hasnor "degraded time into sp'.rce,sHeideg-ger rvould say; he leap s much more innovativeand daring than that: the lleetingseconds f the clove's 1ighc avebeen ransforn-rednto a permanent i lverphotographthat can be conten-rplatedor hoursor quickly scanned y scientists gainand again,in search fstruccural rtures hat wi l l explainrhe muscles'posit ion nd the energl 'bal trnce.

For someone ' t io observes cicntists r engineers t work, there s not merelyonetime and space. he phenomena bserved remuch more surprising; hey relv on tl-resubversion, isjLrnction, isplacement, escaling, rossing-over f relationsbetweelrspatial,actorial,and temporal features. '"Science oesnot withdraw time from theworld, i t adds many spaces nd times to the n'or ld by constanclymodifying scales,Iensths,and unirs n thosestrange ites, he laboratory,he inst i ture,and the archive,wl-rich reutter ly di f ferent rom "a mind."

If this is the case. hen, wheredoes he obsessionor a rime-spacerlme "in rvhich"encit ieswould reside, r a frame chat he.mincl vould"imposeon" thinJsn order oapprehend hem, come ron-r iNo amoLlnt f labor wil l everproduce hat sortoispaceand time-not the work of engineers r scientists, or even hat of our anecdotalrail-blazer. r is uselesso oppose, s .s o ofrendone, he "l ived u'or ld" of human subject iv-it,vapprehending pace nd time and al l rhe rich colorsof intentionsand affe.ctivityu, i th.on the orherhand, hescientif ic nd technical bjecriveworld ceaselesslyurt inga meaningless pace-time nto rsoropic nd isocl-rronicnits. The scientif icand engi-ncering practiceoi subverting spacesrnd times chror-rgh aps, charts,digs, traps.trjcks,and knacksexceeds ,v ar anysubjective ime and space escribed y phenome-nologiscs. he strbjecrivirv f space n d rime is not '* 'har s lefr wl-ren l-re bjectivespace-time as been horoughly described. t is only in some very pecul iarcircum-

'Th is is whv, bv rhe rvav, t c l id not c()me o invent the movie carnera; hat Nlarey'u, rn ted.rs to rnrcncthe rz l r -mor i e camer-an inst rument f i r r ru rn ing movemenr n ro a success ion f images 1-nopt ica l ly.ndnor success ivcl t ' .is ib lc.' " i \ l i chael Lvnch , Sc ience n rhe Age of N{echanica l eproduct ion:NIora land Epis temicRela r ionsBr -rrvcrn l)iagranrs:rnd Phorographs, Biolog.t ad Phrl,trlb 6(ApriI l99t ); 105-16. For a much more compli-arr rd sciencr f icase, cendrcrv Prcker ing beaur i t i r lmedi ra t ion on rvharsorr of sciencr i ic racrr !c sneccs-sary ;tJortphenonrenabegin to appear: [f u ,\lttgle oJPractitt: T)nt. Agerc1.nd SctenctChicago: L]niversit]o l Chjcr .soPress, 99 j ) .


18/24

T R I N S FT H O I ' ( ; I I 1 - 8 5

st:1nceshat the two can be diiterentiated.Only cheman in tl le TGV candist inguishrr;rnsporr nd rransfbrmarion. or hrs sisre opening l-rerail q ' i th i ler x, not thc tnl l l-neersof the train compniesmirking sure rrains do not run out of synch,]"not thescienrists tchingotverhe coorclination lf tomicclocks, nd not i l{i trey rembLing trhe idea l-rar is phorographic un nright give fuzzy,blurred,or overlappinc magesBut surel \ ' . pace-time, r 'rr maginrrt ' f iame tlr t l l evcnrs, as c'come rom some-n,here/ rs origin seems o be in t l -re ecrrl iar atureoi the uhjectssed n tl-re cientr l lcdisciplines o builcl rheir mcsLtr i l l$n:rfunlcnrs. Thiteheadnceclurpped hat it isa l l ve ryF,e l l o p ra rseGal i l eo br h is s rudyo i the inc l inedp lane ,br . r twhat i ihe hadtr ied rvi t l -r agsoiwheat inste,rd f spl-rericali l l iard balls/ Trv to distinguisha seven-vear-old conserving cti i ld fiom "nor.rconserving hildren vhousecelabashesnstetrdoi beakers.he latter of course ontrol ledby merrologyand st:rndardization-rnsPeL-tors ancl nsrrumentsand institutional bodiesare necess.rrvere,.rsmllch ds in thecase frrains and clocks, o hold then-r uir to stndard"ancl o coordinate crionandcertif ication.rlSt i l l , in Afr ica. away from their laboratories,mosr Piagetr i rn esters\r,ouldprobirblyclualityas "nonconser., ing":hcre is an rnordinatenumbef oi r ig idbocliesn the paraphernalra f laboratories, ut rhat doesnot mean hat scirntists rrcthcn:e/*. igid bodiesor haverigid teon-retrical -rinds.t simply means h21t,n thelaboratory, n order to detect .lifferences, l-rey sebencl-rn-rarks

Tl"re i rcrr lar ion i rhose igid bodieswil l loc.rt ly aenertespeciirc ype of splrce-rime, as he circulat ionof ant otherbocll 'with dii lerent proPerties i l l generate

ddi-t ional spaces-times-actants.his doesnot mean htrt rve a'ren tn isotopicspJce ll ldirn sochronic ime, bur tl-rl t ocally, r .r, /rmetrological hains, here rre l f rcr i i isoch-rony and isoropyproducedby the carcfirl lymonitored and l-reavi lynstittrt ionalizedcircl larion of objeccs hat remain relarivelyLrntrirnsformedl-rrough ransporcrrion:higl"r-spee,Jrains, ulers,standards, allnons. veights, onstant elrt ions,bLrl lets, ur l -l isric missiles,ll ing stones,2ICCounts,nd variousother rods' handsofclocks, gears'and structUral son-rorphies.one of tl lat instltmentirt i6n-lhough verl ' precrlc 'r l 'ver)'clever.very material, verv local-at any point saysanything about the mind'sinner rvork ings , o r . loes i t exp la in he wt IVS l1 's 'h rc l r ( ) -p lJLc ccomcs vento reventsbecomenon-event.The buitc l ingof metrologic,rl etworks or space nd timeis a crucial trLlre f \/estern rstory. r has o bedocr-rmented,o be sr,rre,tucl ied nd

. , ,ph i losophlbeing an empir i r l l sciencr . had rhe l r rck .ct ,ming back rom NcuLh te lJ l t c r I l rvrng nrvra lk. to s i t . . r , ,a , th .a , Srviss i r i l *av engincers oing to Pl r is to n let ' t t ] rc i r Fret tch ountcl l )r is rn( l oor .erhearhe i r conversar ions.n chrrge of buVin{ carr iages. het \ ,ere heaping pr ice tags r t lc l tethn i ia lconrror .ers iesn ro eachoi the typ rs ot moving rneter ia lNc cn)un(t r td . Al r l rough a Pissenser rr thc r "pr i ,qhtof thc d tegr : rm. n lovcc l , l l rs tcr l ing. l ( )scr o rhc to l ) l c t t '

r , Conscn. ing ancl nonconsening i r re e(bn i ( . r i e rms n Piaget i rn Pslchologv o descr ibc he rcsul (o iexper imencs ,6en hi ldrcn are b l . or nor rb l t to grasp onstr t ts th rough transf i r rn l . t t ions te rht ' t iass i ',ur r (uf, .n"-Nel l l Perrer- ( - lernront ,1 , ,7Crt i t/ . rnuJ, I r t t r / / ig r tu, i t ) t i f / i l t t r , l t l t t ' , ia r l . r / , Ber t l e :P r t c rL a n g , 1 g l 9 ) . ( J n r r a n s c u l r u r a ll e c o t s r r u c r i o n f P i r r g e t i a n r hc o r r . s c e J t a n L a v e , C , , !t i t t , t n i n P r ,t r i t : \ l j t , i. \ Ia i l rytut ict .a i l ( . r l twt rn Etr lJt l I - r l i Cambrr . lge;Cambr ic lge ,n j 'crs i tv Press. 98 lJ)


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I86 C ' )NTI fONNO\ \ ' I -EDGE

respected, ut i t does not havc- o be confusedwith an accollnt of how our mindevolved, r rvit l-r he understandrng hat other civi l izatronsma.v aveof time, or rviththe ontoLogy [ rvorld making.

I am rvellaware hat s'e have eachedhe turning point, or perhaps t is rhe break-ing point, of rhis lrne of argument.Sincean inreresr n the shift in times and spacespracticedby technicalmeans rndscientihc irboratories,nd the irttencion aid to in-strlrments nd their making insteadof to their resul ts, annorbe juscified y demon-stration. we have r choice o merke etweenphilosophies. he first would considerspace nd cime n their rsocopic nd isocl 'rronic arLlre s being rvhat the Lrnrversesmade of or, alternarively,vhat r l -remincl needs o imposeon rhe Llniversen order omakesense f it. Moreover, san afterthoughr, his l irst posirionmighr save or hLrmirnsubjectivitysomeothersortof'relacionshet rvouldexpll in how ,e reiate motionallyto eventsand orient ourselves oncretely n space, ut al l of this subjecrrvirywouldbe r.inderstoodn conrrast o obiective pace-time. ffectivity and effectivitywould beciearivcontrascecl.)nly he ri.tht side of our di i rgrmwould be considered. nd theleft srde akenasa purelv instrumentalaspect fno phrlosophical onsequencebr theelaboration itherofthe world or of the mind.

A second olLir ion 'ould be co scart rom a phenomenon h21rs not in irselfcon-nectedwrrh either subjectivit l 'or obyectivity, ne thar ignores he qu arrei betweenspace-time Lrs eillan//t)l r as mind-set and tl"ratbegins rvirh the rtthar ntiries har arenecessart 'tbr eintaining r-rsn existence.r is this qual i ry of orherness nd rhe "nunr-ber" oiothers thar are, n t l-ris econd hilosoph,v,he crucral atures; nd its cenrralproblenr s that of knorving f a transport,a displacement, trernslation, trajecron'is"paid frrr"b1'a small or a larsedelbrmation, ransformirrit 'rn,eramorphosis.

The major diffrence etween hese wo philosophiess that the normal case f thehrst is the rareexception f t l -re econd. har a mobile travelswjthout mutaring is sofare.so miraculous, o expensive phenomenon, t has o be explained n detai l . Andindeed.coexplain he man in tt ie TGV who doesnor agemore han threehoursgorngirom Pirris o Neuchtel. one rvould have o take into accoLlnt everalhuge bureaucra-cies,enormousnetrvorks, -rany locks, lags,siens.ancistandards, lot of eiectricirlplants, abor relations, nd so on. Simi lar l t ' . o accounr or Einstein's ravels' ichoutdeformationat the speedof l ight, in spite of rhe acceleratron f l iames of reference,one rvouldhave o count the whole establishment f phvsics, uge aboratories, ostof asrronomy, ncl ui te a frvcririns nd embankments ithe S wiss ailwayauthoricies.In this second ort of rvorld, the measu rement f t imes and spacesuar.rpaces ndrimes, vhereasn t l -reirst, rhe instrument pl i r l 'sno role orher han thirt of a practicalmeans o reach pirce nd trn-re, hi ch themselves xist ndependenrly, hetherobjec-tively or subjectivelr'.n t l -re econd ort of rvorld, nstruments remediators nd sl-rift-ers; n the hrst,simple means nd intermedianes thev could, n t l 'reon' . e discarded).The roleof the mintl, oFethics. olit ics,and relision, isentirely drf ferent n thesenvo


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T R A I N S O F T H O U G H T I 8 -

worlds,and chatdifference ,i l l be my concluding bcus. X/hy s the hfch drmensrono[ cime-spaceodif f icul t to rr 'g isrer:

Fonualrsn: A Pnopr,ssroNAt- HAZARD\7hat appensf, instead fattending to instruments circulat ing igid bodies, abora-tory sites, l-r angesf scale,nst i tut ions n charge f time andstandards, nd the know-lrow thar goes nto experimental rials)we attendonlv- o the resul tsof a smootlrdis-placementi 'To cont inuewith my favorite example,what lrappenswhen the man inthe first-class ompartment of the TGV ignores not only the lamous "man on theembankment"but also he inhabirants f the string of al ignedstationsand cities, l-rewhole machinery rnd administration of rrain companiesi 'He really wil l think thatthere can be something ike a displacement n t ime-space hat doesnot requireanl'aging, any transformation -something that is "paid for" nowhereby costly network-building. He may evencome o think that isochronic ime-measured by his u'atch nrelation virh che rain's lock-and rsoropic pace-signaled by the number-beari ngmilesrones har f lash regularly along the 1p1lq-21gnormal fearures i t l ie world.This wil l not happen f l.re oardsan I tal ian train, et alonean Indran rain, and it wil lnot happeneitber, recall, i f there rs a str ike or other incident, or even if the erir-conditioning malflnctions sl ighcly.But if al l goes moothl)'. his traveler vi l l take heresalt f the railway companies' abor-smooth travel across pace n time-rs its nor-mal catse.After having discardedas rrelevant the tracks, the trains, the switches, hebureaus f standards,he clockwork, the re gulations, he timetables,and tlre wholeartendantmenagerie, e n'i l l chenbc ten-rpredecisively o believe hat rhis sysren-rfisochronic and isotopic coordinatescan be located n his ntindl That is the real greatdangerof train trips; rhey are oo comfortable at least n Switzerland). pistemologyis a professional azardoFhrsr-class, ir-conditioned rain travel.

Sciences both prarsed nd attacked or rvhac t cannotpossiblyprovide: imelessformalism.There are of coursescientists vorking on fbrn-rs, n rulers,on maps! oncoordinates, n srrLrctures,r-r t heir rvork s not itself formal, ruled, mapped,coordi-nated,strucrured.Formalisms irculate nsidescientic ellorks with the regularity,ef{iciencl ', legance, nd economyoitrains circuiatingon rhe "RatischeBahn."Brrt rnthe samewa]' asno one could even magine trains keeping egularschedulesvi thoutrailway companies, o one should imagine rhat formalismscor-r ld o on circulat ingsmoothlywithout t l-re ostly nstitutionsknown asResearch nd Developmenr. r is asstrange o turn i sochronfantl isotopy nt o mencalor nturalcacegoriesrs t is co rurnthe work of establishing onstantsnto what chemind would be part icular lygood at.The unequippedmind of a clesocializedcientistwould be unable o pr olong rhe l i fofany constant. his is rvhv eseirrchers,vellau'are f thesepracrical onstrainrs, ease-lesslydevise nstruments, ime- anclspace-subverters,i rr ,r raps,and scale-rnvertin g


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l i l S ( - O r l I f O N K N O \ \ ; l - h D ( ; E

inscri l ' r t ions,nd in the process rodLlce fabulor-rslynteresting -r isrorl 'br their orvnsciences. hose researchersesemblen'orr ied train companv managers, ot careless,well-fecl, gnortrnr ravelers. ven Einstein. n his MachiirnaccoLrnr iceneral relariv-itv, cleploved erl ' exprl icit lv he engineeringn'ork rhat goes nro shrft ing from oncacce.leratedrame o the next rvithout losrn{r nlormation on the rvay.rrHis proverbial' 'ntol luskof refrence'generrltes.lnrbsolute pacc-time ut c,rnnot rsel fbe seen rs //absolute pace-time.

The idea harc mind couldnakt formal reasonings asbizarreas magining thacasolirarvscienrist oLrld rakea discovery r ir nakedmir lc raveler 's odl '(not FlashorSuperman's)ould move bf irselfat 100 km/h f iom Paris o Ner,rchtel. er the vrr lideaof" 'genetrc pisrenrologvgoes irrtherrharn his rhoughr experimenr, magrningnot only that t l t e mind unclertakesbrn-ral eersoninghrouglr fbrmal means,but alscrt l -rache rvholehistorl oi biological i f, f iom the earl iestpre-Cambnan rns o rhesuperiorcortex of pr in-rates,bsessivelv eeksnothrng bur the consenarionof thoseformzrl elations.r'Thus formtrl ism s taken as rhe pinnacleoi hlrman reasoning, ndlif itseli is said o ainr t .Lt othing else.Here Piagec,he imnrarrentist, pperrrso clkethe opposite osit ion rom thrrtof Bergson, he spirirualist , -orwhom lif musc emai nforever breign vt Holt,'Jttbet's rge for geometry. In efct, horvever,Piager'sposirior-rstarts rom the srime rinciple: ime anclspace an be said,unproblematicalJl.,o per-tain to lif itseli.

Buc rf we l tar.e een ight to locatecheproduct ionoi t imes and spacesn vlr iousrypesof circulation, egistration,and insrruments, hen one cannot atrribute ro lifeitselithe trming that is clue n largepart co he biologists and evolutionarl 'rheorists'pritctice.rrThere s a huge difference erween snai l rn Lakc Neuchteland rl-re amesnail nside Piaget's ollection.The first is more Iike the female raleler of my anec-dote: t is a sr-rt fer ingody among sLlffering odies, acking nsrrumenrs o regisrer tssr,rf lering,ts metirmorphoses,tsmutat ions,and all t l -re isks t claresirke o stal 'al ive.Ir is onh' t [ -re econd, nside a rance of or her snailsoi slrghrly differenr colorsandshapes,hat rvi l l begin to register, hrough rhe nventionofa new fornrofsynopticitr ',i ts mutatrons n relatron o the cl-ranging nvironme nc, tseli represenred y colors.labels, engthson mil l inreteredpaper.As StephenJayGoulclhassobeaLrtif ir l lr,demon-strated, ne cannotexplzrin he hist oryof l i fe without raking inro account he -ristory

' 'ALbcrt Einsrein. R,ltlrt it1: Th , Sp*),r/ rri th. Gtne,;// 'l |ry,;1. Ptptltt Explrrtiru (Lonclon: NfethuenI 9 l O )] . - |eanPiaget .B i i l ! t t | tuunl ) . t id |1L. t :tJ , / j \ l | le 'i t t / , t t t tn l tn|t /et r t | lhr i lurot ' t ' , t l t t ]

( l 9 t r - ; N e L r c h j t t l : D r l a c h a t r r t t N i c s r l . l ( ) ( ) l i .' 'See, lr,r instance, lte m;rrveiousstrLclv f Robert E. Kolrier, L,i l ' ,, l tLt Itl l: Drowpl:i lt Gdkrii! ,t i lJ tbtI ' t l r , iur t t t r t l L i l (C I r rc . rco: ln ivers i r rof Chrc. i roPress. 99 r . rncl r l r r 'cxample s a rhcred n ' t lx R)xl , t '1 , , ,1 'lo t l teJoL. c l .C larkc anclFui inrura.


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ofthe lif sciences.t 'Theeap.rom archives nd collections, nstruments, nd narurall ' r isrory ruseums o the aim of l i t itseli. isa sure rolrce o ftr. i lr-rre -co he allacyofgranrlng all l ivrng organisms r n'a1'of i fe," rnobsession ith constanc!', mad seirrclrfbr structures, l ixation on conservirt ionhat migh t well be characteristic f Swissq'irtchmakers,rain mangers,ecordkeepers, nd bank collectors, uc that cannot,atleastwithout more reseirrch, e accribr-rtedo snails,scomirchs, rains,chi ldren, an. inon-Swissmarhemrrticians. ne can be allorved o forget, t)ra mome nt, t l tat smoothdisp.lacemenrn rime and spaces paid fbr , some\\'here lse,by other people;but notfbrever. ime may "pass ike norhrng" inside a Srviss rain compartment,but a goodtesr of this norion's alidity outside he train might be to iump olf rhe TGV at ful lsPeed.

The environment n rvhicl-r iagrt 's l-ror.rgl"rteveloped ught, as Fernanclo idl lhasshorvn, o haveprodncedan entirelycl i f frent rnd ofintellectLlal tance.r"fnirvecontextualistsrre o be believsd, biologist born in Neuchit el, rvhoworked fbr mirnl 'years n the natural -r istory ollections f a rich country oi bankers nd clocknrakers,crisscrossedy rrains,cirrs, rucks, and planes, nd who rvould becon'rerrscinatetl vthe exploringbehaviorof children,by the ext ent of their mirter i l l mirnipulart ionsnclt l -reirel iance n socrtr lnteractions,ltott/Jhaveome o argLleht societies, hi ldren'speer groups, and sciencil icdisciplinesare so many time-producing collectives.Hesl-rould aveseenhos'our c()nceptselv on ma.erial ,social.anclpracrrcal redi:rt ions.and row close hildrenscuntroversicsrc ro scientihc ontroversies. truckbv- he ex-rravaganr thnocentrism f most psycholog)', iagetwould havebecome l-re bunclerof "cognrt iveanrhropoloay,eveall inghe gap that existsbetrveen racticalcognitiveculrures asEdwin Hurchins has ecentlyshorvn n his important book), - i rnd,goingnrr-rchirrrher. Irervor-rld ave ounded:is rvell the stuclr- f rvhat times irncl vhat spacessuffer ingbiologicalbodies rirceon rheir own terms.And yet, aswe all knorv,Piaget 'sheroic eflbrt rvirs o eliminate from the mind, f iom the produccionof sciencc, i t,nronrogeneric evelopment, iom the history of scienc e, nd f inal l l ' ,especrallyn Bio/uglanl Knnu'/et /gr ' .rom che hisrory of l i f icseli anv tr:rccof history ', f t ime-producingPrac ce.

Tl 'reconstancy f Piagct,during a long career,n seizing rnvoccasion,n al l themany domains n wl'richhe workecl, o cLl rn ir tual i t ies nto potential i t ies in Deleuze'sand IsabelleSrenger's ense)-iris constanrerasure f t ime and pr.rccice-is srun-

'StcphenJar' OouIJ,\l lu,lofrl blt: ' l '1ry Btrtet.t Slule tn,/ rl r Ntrrre oJHtrt1(Nerv York: V \\'. Nortonl9 f io)- rhe tu l l r i t le should nor be over looked .

' Fernanclo ida l , Prr ,q , l i t lo i P i , t .4 r Crmbr i c fue: { lnar . l l jn rvrrs in Prcss, 99 i ) .See lutch ins. ( , t , t i t t , 'u t r rh \\ r lJ.


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ning.r8Potential iry s the realrzat ion in t ime" of what was already rhere nporcnria.fime unfoldsdeterminations ut norhing reallyhappens,ust as t is possible o calcu-late all the posit ionsofa pendulum from its ini t ia l posit ion without the actual al l oftl-rependulum adding new information. The same s rrue of development, f deve.lop-ment is understood s he unfolding of potential i t ies : problem thar piaget rackledtwtce, n regard o the growth of mollusks and with referenceo child intell igence.virruality is something alrogether differenc; t dependson the fifth dimension I de-f inedabove,which makesspace nd time dependenr n process, n the intensrtywithwhich other ypesof surprising acranrsare connecred.The quest.ion s thus to decidewhether time is the realizarion f potential i t ies,or wherher ime emerges rom theelici ing, the educing,of virrualit ies,of surprisingdifferences.Piaget'snsistence n turning virtualit ies nto porenrial ir ies equires n explanationthat I am not equipped o find but that, I am sure,wil l interestsocialhisrorians fideas.My own guesss that theologymust haveplayeda major role.piaget'stheorizinghasall the timelessnes.sf a secularized rorestantism.conrrary ro the generalassump_tion, theologians re often more rarionalist han epistemorogists re, argelybecausetl-reologiansmagine that God has something to do with the same ime and spaceascheoneproducedby immucablemobires, xcept hacHe is "beyond., ' ut , since heo-logians(like train rravelers nd epistemologists)do not focuson the work of producingthosemobilesbut only on i ts resurt , hey take soropyancl sochrony s atures ftheworld. They commit, to useHeidegger'sanguage,he sin of metaphysics. hus, theyhaveno alternacivebur ro considerGod asan encicybeyondspace-time, n a rranscen-dent other world. I f one wishes, ike the young piager, o maintain the ahisto'citysuppliedby this God of beyondand abovebut wishes,ar rhe same ime, to distanceoneselffrom the embarrassingbaggage har accompanies hristian theology,one soiu-tion is to make cerrain thac rhis world itself has al l rhe conscancy,ormalism, andahistoriciry har characterizehe world ,,beyond., 'That enterprise omewhat esemblesheexperimentby which absolute ero s to bereachedby progressively lowing down the motion of atoms.The fusing of psychology,history, logic, mathematics,pedagogy,and rife irself creares confinedspace n wnichPiaget 's xrraordinary rial can take place: he slowing down of history, he slow re-placement f v ir t r-ral it iesy potential i t ies, he rransformarion f processnto rhe actu-alizaon of consranrs-it is one of chemosr daring scientistic enterprises f a centuryalready rich in such endeavors,n arrempr to ensure that norhing unanricipated oruntoward happens, hat every srep is regulated according to schedure, har onrogenyrecapitulatesphylogeny, thar this world is as welr-regulated as the rost orher worrd,thar accounrs nd balances realways epr in spiceofal l imbalances,hat consrancysfbrevermainrained in spite of rhe turmoil of history and its world wars, rhat capnartza-

'^ lsabelie Stengers' Au nontde a fche du tlnps: le df de Prigogine, Co:rnnpoltiqtes, vol. 5 (paris: La Dcou-v e r r e . 1 9 9 l ) .


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cion goeson for ever wirhouceither lossor expenditure.Pitrget's imelessnesss rhepirradoxical imelessness f clockmakers, deal for an army of passive efer-rse,or arvorld thar runs smoothly ike clockrvork,where rains, colle.qes,nd classroomsuncrn ime. a 'orld rvherenothing happens. beniud uit /saatl l ra:a n-ragnihcenrxperi-mcnr ro show n relrefwhat "r i rseenmissedso ar in drscussionsbour iming, spac-ing, ancl rct ing.

latour - trains of thought - piaget, formalism, and the fifth dimension

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