THE RISK OF INHERITING FROM A SPHINX CALLED AIME

Buenaventura Marco Moreno

Through a non-fiction fable, the reader encounters the many lives of Bruno Latour’s decades-long philosophical project. While this project partially culminated in the 2012 publication of An Inquiry into Modes of Existence (AIME) and its accompanying online platform, the fable seeks to suggest the alternate paths the work could have taken. By tracing the historicity of the choices made over the decades, as well as the fragility and the ever-present threat of failure the final AIME project entailed, the fable embraces the element of risk in Latour’s endeavour – and its promises – as an invitation for the project to be taken up anew. Thus, the moral of the fable is that only an understanding of the risks taken during this philosophical adventure can truly equip those who wish to inherit from it.