Open access
LABORATORYIZATION OF THE HUMANITIES
Magdalena SZPUNAR1
Publication language: Polish
scientific paper
Quest Editor of the Issue Dominika Popielec
Transformations No. 1(128)2026, Publication date: 31 March 2026
Keywords: laboratoryization, laboratory, humanities, technologization, instrumentalization, pragmatism, utility, instrumentation, concretism, error
Abstract The aim of the article is to draw attention to the processes of the laboratoryization of the humanities. The author points out that the hardening and increased precision of the humanities take place through the use of the category of the laboratory, as well as through the borrowing of concepts characteristic of the exact sciences. This occurs particularly when the humanities seek to defend themselves against accusations of being unscientific, useless, and lacking in pragmatism. The category of the laboratory or infrastructural turn makes it possible to appreciate the value of both the material and the immaterial in processes of knowledge production, as well as the laboratory significance of error and wandering inherent in laboratory praxis.
Uniwersytet Śląski w Katowicach, Wydział Nauk Społecznych, Instytut Socjologii, Polska
ORCID: 0000-0003-1245-5531
E-mail: magdalena.szpunar@us.edu.pl