irreductions
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"Nothing can be reduced to anything else, nothing can be deduced from anything else, everything may be allied to everything else."
4.3.2 Knowledge does not exist—what would it be (1.4.3)? There is only know-how. In other words, there are crafts and trades. Despite all claims to the contrary, crafts hold the key to knowledge. They make it possible to return "science" to the networks from which it came (Introduction).
November 18, 2025 at 8:39 PM
4.3.2 Knowledge does not exist—what would it be (1.4.3)? There is only know-how. In other words, there are crafts and trades. Despite all claims to the contrary, crafts hold the key to knowledge. They make it possible to return "science" to the networks from which it came (Introduction).
4.3.1 "Science" is much too ramshackle to talk about. We must speak instead of the allies which certain networks use to make themselves stronger than others (1.3.1, 2.4.1, 3.3.1). In this way we will see force instead of potency (4.1.5).
November 14, 2025 at 9:20 PM
4.3.1 "Science" is much too ramshackle to talk about. We must speak instead of the allies which certain networks use to make themselves stronger than others (1.3.1, 2.4.1, 3.3.1). In this way we will see force instead of potency (4.1.5).
4.2.6 Belief in the existence of "science" is the effect of exaggeration, injustice, asymmetry, ignorance, credulity, and denial. If "science" is distinct from the rest, then it is the end result of a long line of coups de force.
November 7, 2025 at 11:54 PM
4.2.6 Belief in the existence of "science" is the effect of exaggeration, injustice, asymmetry, ignorance, credulity, and denial. If "science" is distinct from the rest, then it is the end result of a long line of coups de force.
4.2.5 "Science" is a sanctuary only so long as we treat the winners and the losers asymmetrically.
November 6, 2025 at 7:21 PM
4.2.5 "Science" is a sanctuary only so long as we treat the winners and the losers asymmetrically.
4.2.4 "Science" only gives the impression of existing by turning its existence into a *permanent miracle*. Unable to admit its true allies, it is forced to explain one marvel with another, and that one with a third. It goes on until it looks just like a fairy tale.
October 15, 2025 at 7:00 PM
4.2.4 "Science" only gives the impression of existing by turning its existence into a *permanent miracle*. Unable to admit its true allies, it is forced to explain one marvel with another, and that one with a third. It goes on until it looks just like a fairy tale.
4.2.3 "Science" is an artificial entity separated from heterogeneous networks by *unjust means*. There are two measures, one for the "scientists" and the other for the rest.
October 9, 2025 at 1:38 PM
4.2.3 "Science" is an artificial entity separated from heterogeneous networks by *unjust means*. There are two measures, one for the "scientists" and the other for the rest.
4.2.2 "Science" has no standing of its own. It takes shape only by denying what carried it to power and by attributing its solidity not to what holds but to what is held together (2.4.7). With this denial "it" ignores even itself.
September 28, 2025 at 10:43 AM
4.2.2 "Science" has no standing of its own. It takes shape only by denying what carried it to power and by attributing its solidity not to what holds but to what is held together (2.4.7). With this denial "it" ignores even itself.
4.2.1 "Science"—in quotation marks—does not exist. It is the name that has been pasted onto certain sections of certain networks, associations that are so sparse and fragile that they would have escaped attention altogether if everything had not been attributed to them.
September 27, 2025 at 7:48 AM
4.2.1 "Science"—in quotation marks—does not exist. It is the name that has been pasted onto certain sections of certain networks, associations that are so sparse and fragile that they would have escaped attention altogether if everything had not been attributed to them.
Interlude VII: In Which We Learn Why This Précis Says Nothing Favorable about Epistemology
September 19, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Interlude VII: In Which We Learn Why This Précis Says Nothing Favorable about Epistemology
4.1.10 If people did not believe in "science," there would be nothing but trials of strength. But even "in science" there are only trials of strength.
September 7, 2025 at 6:44 PM
4.1.10 If people did not believe in "science," there would be nothing but trials of strength. But even "in science" there are only trials of strength.
4.1.9 Since nothing is by itself either reducible or irreducible to anything else (1.1.1), there cannot be tests and weaknesses on the one hand and *something else on the other* (1.1.2, 1.1.5.2, 2.3.4, 2.4.3, 2.5.1).
August 28, 2025 at 7:28 AM
4.1.9 Since nothing is by itself either reducible or irreducible to anything else (1.1.1), there cannot be tests and weaknesses on the one hand and *something else on the other* (1.1.2, 1.1.5.2, 2.3.4, 2.4.3, 2.5.1).
4.1.8 They are skeptical and unbelieving about witches and priests, but when it comes to science, they are credulous. They say without the slightest hesitation that its efficacy derives from its "method," "logic," "rigor," or "objectivity" (2.1.0).
August 15, 2025 at 7:21 AM
4.1.8 They are skeptical and unbelieving about witches and priests, but when it comes to science, they are credulous. They say without the slightest hesitation that its efficacy derives from its "method," "logic," "rigor," or "objectivity" (2.1.0).
4.1.7 What we call "science" is chosen in a rather random manner from a motley crowd of actants. Though it represents the others, it denies this fact (3.4.6).
August 12, 2025 at 7:31 PM
4.1.7 What we call "science" is chosen in a rather random manner from a motley crowd of actants. Though it represents the others, it denies this fact (3.4.6).
4.1.6 What we call "science" is made up of a large array of elements whose power we prefer to attribute to a few.
August 12, 2025 at 1:07 AM
4.1.6 What we call "science" is made up of a large array of elements whose power we prefer to attribute to a few.
4.1.5 We are suffering not from too little but from too much spirit. The *spirit*, alas, never lives up to the *letter*. Spirit is only a few words, among many to which the meaning of all the other words is unfairly attributed. Spirit thus becomes a potent illusion.
August 3, 2025 at 10:47 AM
4.1.5 We are suffering not from too little but from too much spirit. The *spirit*, alas, never lives up to the *letter*. Spirit is only a few words, among many to which the meaning of all the other words is unfairly attributed. Spirit thus becomes a potent illusion.
4.1.4 When a network conceals its principle of association, I say that it displays "potency." When the array of weaknesses that makes it up is visible, I say that it displays "force."
July 29, 2025 at 1:43 PM
4.1.4 When a network conceals its principle of association, I say that it displays "potency." When the array of weaknesses that makes it up is visible, I say that it displays "force."
4.1.3 Conversely, once force is seen to lie in the alliance of weaknesses, potency vanishes. Of course, the forces are still there, but the illusion of potency is annihilated.
July 27, 2025 at 5:56 PM
4.1.3 Conversely, once force is seen to lie in the alliance of weaknesses, potency vanishes. Of course, the forces are still there, but the illusion of potency is annihilated.
4.1.2 Do not trust those who analyze magic. They are usually magicians in search of revenge.
July 24, 2025 at 8:13 PM
4.1.2 Do not trust those who analyze magic. They are usually magicians in search of revenge.
4.1.1 You can become strong only by association. But since this is
always achieved through translation (1.3.2), the strength (1.5.1, 2.5.2) is attributed to potency, not to the allies responsible for holding things
together (3.3.6).
always achieved through translation (1.3.2), the strength (1.5.1, 2.5.2) is attributed to potency, not to the allies responsible for holding things
together (3.3.6).
July 23, 2025 at 4:31 PM
4.1.1 You can become strong only by association. But since this is
always achieved through translation (1.3.2), the strength (1.5.1, 2.5.2) is attributed to potency, not to the allies responsible for holding things
together (3.3.6).
always achieved through translation (1.3.2), the strength (1.5.1, 2.5.2) is attributed to potency, not to the allies responsible for holding things
together (3.3.6).
Chapter 4
Irreduction of "the Sciences"
Irreduction of "the Sciences"
July 23, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Chapter 4
Irreduction of "the Sciences"
Irreduction of "the Sciences"
3.6.6 Worlds probably look more like a Rome than a computer. Or rather, the best-conceived computer should be thought of as a collage of displaced, reused ruins, a splendid Roman confusion (Kidder, 1981). Each entelechy looks like the court of Parma.
July 21, 2025 at 6:59 AM
3.6.6 Worlds probably look more like a Rome than a computer. Or rather, the best-conceived computer should be thought of as a collage of displaced, reused ruins, a splendid Roman confusion (Kidder, 1981). Each entelechy looks like the court of Parma.
3.6.5 Though it may sound strange, we are probably no more closely tied to most of the forces we speak for than a trade unionist is to the workers he represents, or a managing director is to his shareholders. I speak here of our dreams just as much as of our rats, our stomachs, or our machines.
July 18, 2025 at 6:35 AM
3.6.5 Though it may sound strange, we are probably no more closely tied to most of the forces we speak for than a trade unionist is to the workers he represents, or a managing director is to his shareholders. I speak here of our dreams just as much as of our rats, our stomachs, or our machines.
3.6.4 Someone speaks breathlessly to others who understand only what they want to hear. The story is about those who reveal themselves through enigmas and symptoms. From time to time those who are being talked about interrupt, furious that they have been betrayed.
July 16, 2025 at 9:46 PM
3.6.4 Someone speaks breathlessly to others who understand only what they want to hear. The story is about those who reveal themselves through enigmas and symptoms. From time to time those who are being talked about interrupt, furious that they have been betrayed.
3.6.3.1 What we despise as political "mediocrity" is simply the collection of compromises that we force politicians to make on our behalf.
3.6.3 Only in politics are people willing to talk of "trials of strength."
July 15, 2025 at 5:37 PM
3.6.3.1 What we despise as political "mediocrity" is simply the collection of compromises that we force politicians to make on our behalf.
3.6.3 Only in politics are people willing to talk of "trials of strength."
July 13, 2025 at 7:42 PM
3.6.3 Only in politics are people willing to talk of "trials of strength."