Latour - Matters of Fact, Matters of Concern

1) Latour's problem is that there has become too big a rift between that of "objects" and "things". There is a division between that of science and technology and that which is “cradled in the respectful idiom of art, craftsmanship and poetry”. Social scientists have tried to explain objects so horribly that they might as well not bother. Yet by breaking down these boundaries things can become things again.

2) The realist attitude that Latour champions is to look at the thing through a matter of concern rather than a matter of fact. Philosophers pick and choose what they want to look at when that should actually be creating a better picture to understand their matters of concern. It is not always possible to explain things through matters of fact.