THE CARE OF THE SELF AND BLIND VARIATION - AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE EMPIRICAL IN 2 SCIENCES

This paper is about how sciences relate to the phenomenal world. It fo cusses on the construction of the empirical machineries involved in th e creation of knowledge. The author adopts an ethnographic perspective and contrasts two approachs: high energy physics and molecular biolog y. In the first one the work of dealing with the referent is left to a n interposed machine. Particle physics operates in a world separated f rom the environment, reflexivity is turned into a principle of knowled ge. In molecular biology, on the other hand, the epistemic culture is oriented toward positive knowledge built from the manipulation of obje ts in an analogous regime that continuously turns away from sign profe sses.