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KONOPÁSEK, Z. (2022): Religion in action: How Marian apparitions may become true. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 12 (1): 170–183

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According to Latour, religion and science have nothing in common. The two are successful (or failing) in quite different ways. Religiousness is not aimed at fact-making, but at presence-making, he says. To critically reconsider these ideas, I discuss the case study of Marian apparitions in Litmanová. The study suggests a more complicated picture by not focusing on pure and ready-made religion, but rather on religion in the making, a kind of “almost-religion.” It shows how the reality of apparitions, initially of quite unclear status, was becoming more and more religious. Fact-making and fact-checking clearly belonged to this trajectory and have never stopped being relevant. Nonethless, together with how the apparition was progressively becoming truly religious (or religiously true), Latourian presence-making was gaining in importance.

KONOPÁSEK, Z. (2021): Ať spolu vědci dál nesouhlasí - rozhovor se Štěpánem Kučerou [Let us not ask the scientists to speak in a single voice - an interview with Štěpán Kučera]. Právo, Salon, 28. 1. 2021. Available at Novinky.cz

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In Czech only

KONOPÁSEK, Z. (2017): Lítáme v tom, někteří beznadějně: Odpověď na recenzi Radka Kubaly [We are all in the thick of it: Some of us quite hopelessly]. Zdeněk Konopásek's blog, 22. 12. 2020. Available at http://zdenek.konopasek.net/index.php?m=16&i=4138&b=16

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KONOPÁSEK, Z. (2020): Existence na mnoho způsobů: Vejde se do tabulky? [Existence multiple: How does it fit in the table?]. Biograf, 71-72: 93-104

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An inquiry into modes of existence: An anthropology of the moderns (AIME) is an important recent book by Bruno Latour, published in 2013. It presents yet another attempt at explaining Latour’s sociological or anthropological approach, connected to so called actor-network theory (ANT). The book seeks to correct misunderstandings about this increasingly popular approach and pave the way for more "diplomatic" negotiations on what we as researchers try to say about the world. Without the context of Latour's all life's work, this book is not always easy to understand. That is why, to offer an outline of the AIME’s argument, I start with a brief review of this context. At the end of the paper, I come with a critical discussion. I suggest that the concept of modes of existence, as it is presented in the book, seems diverted from the former Latour’s sensitivity toward reality “in action”. Thanks to the AIME book, one can perhaps understand the differences between the imagined modes of existence, but it remains somewhat unclear and, in fact, invisible how they eventually become more or less distinct in practice, i.e., how issues become (or not) political, religious or scientific. Instead, in AIME, the world as if turns into rows and columns of a table.

POKORNÝ, P. & KONOPÁSEK, Z. (2020): We are all in the thick of it: A dialogue about climate change science, politics and activism. In: A. Vondra, ed: Must environmentalism be alarmist? Searching for realistic answers. Brno: Books & Pipes. Pp. 27-69

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Two colleagues, paleoecologist and sociologist, talk about broader contexts of scientific doubting about contemporary climate policies.

POKORNÝ, P. & KONOPÁSEK, Z. (2020): Lítáme v tom - II.: Dialog o klimatu na pomezí vědy, politiky a aktivismu [We are all in the thick of it: A dialogue about climate change - science, politics and activism - II.]. Kontexty, 12 (6): 15-24 (reprinted from A. Vondra, ed: Musí být ekologie alarmistická? [Does ecology have to be alarmist?)

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POKORNÝ, P. & KONOPÁSEK, Z. (2020): Lítáme v tom - I.: Dialog o klimatu na pomezí vědy, politiky a aktivismu [We are all in the thick of it: A dialogue about climate change - science, politics and activism]. Kontexty, 12 (5): 30-39 (reprinted from A. Vondra, ed: Musí být ekologie alarmistická? [Does ecology have to be alarmist?). Available at https://casopiskontexty.cz/litame-v-tom-i/<

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POKORNÝ, P. & KONOPÁSEK, Z. (2020): Lítáme v tom: Dialog o klimatu na pomezí vědy, politiky a aktivismu [We're in: Climate dialogue at the edge of science, politics, and activism]. In: A. Vondra, ed: Musí být ekologie alarmistická? Hledání realistických odpovědí [Does ecology have to be alarmist? Finding realistic answers]. Brno: Books & Pipes. Pp. 67-105

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KONOPÁSEK, Z. (2020): Latour o antropocénu: Složité vztahy mezi intelektuálním a politickým radikalismem [Latour and anthropocene: Complicated relations between intellectual and political radicalism]. Vesmír, 99 (150): 512-514

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Bruno Latour is one of the most quoted authors in contemporary social sciences. In recent years, he started writing about anthropocene or "new climatic regime". His turn toward this topic seems to be associated with a political and theoretical turn. The book Down to Earth can be taken as a prominent example of this turn. I critically discuss this shift in late Latour, including its more general consequences.

KONOPÁSEK, Z. (2020): Antropocén: Více než jeden, méně než dva [Anthropocene: More than one, less than many]. In: P. Pokorný & D. Storch, eds: Antropocén. Praha: Academia. Pp. 32-50

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