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Do Angels Have Bodies? Two Stories About Subjectivity in Science:The Cases of William X and Mister HDepartment of Science and Technology Studies, 726 University Avenue, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14850, USA; fax: +1 607 255 0610; mialet{at}umich.edu (until January 2000), then helene.mialet{at}cornell.edu How can we characterize an individual creator `in vivo' - or, to use a more traditional category in philosophy, a knowing subject `in the making'? While informed by philosophical modes of questioning, this paper addresses this problem using tools developed by anthropologists and sociologists of science. Based on two case studies - William X, a researcher working at France's largest petroleum company (Elf Aquitaine), and Stephen Hawking - the paper examines how these scientists came to distinguish themselves as creative geniuses. By breaking down the narrative representation of the creative process as a simple mental operation, the paper shows how creation is materially `distributed' in specific tools, practices and social networks. Conversely, it demonstrates how and why the distribution of competences into heterogeneous practices provides an explanation of how a person becomes a singular, inventive individual. In conclusion, it proposes a new conceptualization of the knowing subject as the distributed-centred subject.
Social Studies of Science, Vol. 29, No. 4,
551-581 (1999) This article has been cited by other articles:
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