ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I take up to question of ANT’s relationship to critique, not in order to point the finger at ANT, but to explore what ANT as a critical theory can accomplish. I ask with regard to which element of the world ANT is (not) critical, how and why it is so, and what the effects of this selective criticality are. The goals of this chapter are twofold. The first is a critique of ANT. ANT, despite its intentions, is also a critical practice. I will introduce a notion of critique in the language of ANT and show why ANT misunderstands its own criticality. The second goal is an empirical analysis of how ANT practises critique and why. I will introduce four different kinds of critique within ANT. ANT as a critique of natural science, ANT as a non-critique of design, ANT as a critique of theories of society and finally ANT as speculative critique of social practices.
