TOTEM AND METAPHOR - THE CONCEPT OF NETWORK AS A SYMBOLICAL OPERATOR

The word 'network' is so fashionable that its use can sometimes be see n as more incantative than descriptive. Instead of discussing the conc ept, we focus here on the word and the way it is used. Our hypothesis is that it can be seen as a kind of totem, in Levi-Strauss' sense, pro viding a 'method of thinking'. To grasp its efficiency, we have to loo k at it as a part of a homological-rather than causal-way of thinking. Through analysis of the use of the word in two different contexts, we shall try to shed light on this 'homological way of thinking', which proceeds via the whole, rather than via the part; by hand rather than by mind; by the concrete rather than by abstraction.