English abstract The analysis of technical and scientific controversies has

emerged over the last thirty years as one of the cornerstones of the study of sci-

ence and technology embedded in their social and cultural contexts. This article

focuses on research and teaching experiences, conducted at the Centre for the

Sociology of Innovation (CSI) of MINES ParisTech, revolving around the analysis of

controversies. It examines their origins, mutual influences and key principles to fi-

nally discuss how a pragmatic approach to the study of controversies constitutes

an opportunity for the development or evolution of innovative teaching methods,

able to include a critical approach to the very contents of knowledge, and means

of learning. Far from refusing the search for objectivity itself, this approach propo-

ses to seek objectivity by means of dense descriptions of the associations that de-

velop in and around the subject of study.

English keywords: scientific and technical controversies; Center for the Sociolo-

gy of Innovation; MINES ParisTech; Actor-Network Theory; pragmatic sociology.