Science and technology studies (STS) and critical posthumanism: Ontologies in the critical zone

This chapter introduces to a range of “ontological” approaches that have emerged in the field of science and technology studies (STS). What characterizes those ontologies, in contrast with most conventional philosophical ones, are the heterogeneity and variability of their elements, their composition, and their capacity for change, even dramatic change. They are effects, consequences, of relations and patterns that are forever being reassembled in and across the ecology of practices. They are practical ontologies. After introducing practical ontologies, we differentiate their acritical orientation from the critical disposition of (critical) posthumanism. That is particularly important at the present moment, that of the Anthropocene – or perhaps of Gaia – where conventional forms of critique seem less and less able to deliver the goods. In consequence of the planet’s increasingly critical condition, there is now a pressing need to collectively think, act, and experiment with the articulation of ontological propositions aimed at keeping the earth alive, inhabitable, and livable. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.