Excavating political and moral agency from the foundations of actor–network theory

This paper explores the understudied relationship between political and moral agency in actor-network theory (ANT). ANT developed a post-humanist theory of political agency by reinterpreting contract theory through a post-structuralist semiotic lens, but marginalized concerns over moral agency as humanistic impositions. However, ANT scholars ultimately struggled to imagine a future for democratic politics. Pragmatist philosophy offers solutions that will recouple political and moral agency without sacrificing many of the insightful contributions of material semiotics. While pragmatism requires us to moderate ANT’s commitment to post-humanism, it offers some advantages to navigating the complex democratic problems of our ‘post-truth’ political order.