This unleashed a storm of reactions on the internet and the publication of books and countless journal articles on the exposure of a. But there is one criticism that i have of the book. A few years later and the sokal hoax wouldnt have happened. Toward a transformative hermeneutics of quantum gravity in an academic journal.
Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. I confess that im an unabashed old leftist who never quite understood how deconstruction was supposed to help the working class. The sokal hoax in the nineties happened when alan sokal, a physicist, had a paper published using trendy terms from postmodern discourse and a ton of citations from well known postmodern philosophers it was a paper purposely put together to be profound sounding. Fashionable nonsense by alan sokal and jean bricmont. The pernicious consequences and internal contradictions of postmodernist relativism. Toward a transformative hermeneutics of quantum gravity.
Aug 18, 2008 you know, about a third of the way into this i really started to feel like he was using the hammer of the sokal hoax to drive the torx screws of whatever it is thats stuck in his craw because, as everyone knows, you dont use a philips screwdriver to drive a torx screw. Beyond the hoax alan sokal oxford university press. Science, philosophy and culture by sokal, alan isbn. The story became frontpage news around the world and triggered fierce and wideranging controversy. The sokal hoax clearly demonstrated the complete waste of time and tax payers money that was going into unproductive pseudophilosophy. Postmodern intellectuals abuse of science 1998 and author of beyond the hoax. The sokal affair, also called the sokal hoax, was a demonstrative scholarly hoax performed by alan sokal, a physics professor at new york university and university college london. His stated intention for the book is to describe as sim ply as possible from a. Besides his research in mathematics and physics, he is coauthor with jean bricmont of fashionable nonsense. Mixing metaphors, celebrating the 15year anniversary of what still must be considered a total slam dunk in what was called the science wars or the culture wars framed as for or. In beyond the hoax alan sokal again returns to the notorious parody that started it all, transgressing the boundaries.
Its author was the physicist alan sokal, who had taken on the challenge of assessing the philosophical and political implications of the quest to unify the two cornerstones of modern physics. Many readers will recall some with relish, some with dismay the sokal hoax over a decade ago. Collected here for the first time are sokals original essay on quantum gravity, his essay revealing the hoax, the newspaper articles that broke the story, and the angry opeds, letters, and email exchanges sparked by the hoax from intellectuals across the country, including stanley fish, george f. Science, philosophy, and culture is a 2008 book by alan sokal detailing the history of the sokal affair in which he submitted an article full of. Beyond the hoax, a collection of massively annotated essays dealing with the aftershock of the hoax, it is still relevant today. Sokals main argument, then and now, is for the centrality of evidence in all matters of public debate. The times writes that sokal s essaysand his hoax achieve their purpose of reminding us all that, in the words of the victorian mathematicianphilosopher. Feb 11, 2010 the story became frontpage news around the world and triggered fierce and wideranging controversy.
Science, philosophy, and culture is a 2008 book by alan sokal detailing the history of the sokal affair in which he submitted an article full of nonsense to a journal and was able to get it published. Whether my targets are the postmodernists of the left, the fundamentalists of the right, or the muddle. You know, about a third of the way into this i really started to feel like he was using the hammer of the sokal hoax to drive the torx screws of whatever it is thats stuck in his craw because, as everyone knows, you dont use a philips screwdriver to drive a torx screw. The paper argued that quantum gravity was a social construct. But on what grounds can believers presume to know that these assertions are true. Sokal is one of the most powerful voices in the continuing debate about the status of evidencebased knowledge. And im a stodgy old scientist who believes, naively, that there exists an external world, that there. Science, philosophy, and culture is a 2008 book by alan sokal detailing the history of the sokal affair in which he submitted an article full of nonsense to a journal and was able to get it published reception. There is a lot of good and clear thinking in this book. Mar 19, 2010 sokal is one of the most powerful voices in the continuing debate about the status of evidencebased knowledge.
New york sun although he disclaims any special philosophical expertise, he writes well about the philosophy of science. Sokals book begins with a rigourously annotated version of his social text essay, and beyond the hoax is a worthwhile read for this feature alone. In 2008, sokal revisited the sokal affair and its implications in beyond the hoax. Read beyond the hoax science, philosophy and culture by alan sokal available from rakuten kobo. The rest of the book is a collection of related essays, and some of the pieces are compelling, especially those that warn the political left against the antiintellectual dangers of unbridled. Beyond the hoax is an essential text for anyone interested in the history and philosophy of science, or for that matter science itself. In 1996, alan sokal, a physicist at nyu, decided to troll postmodernism by submitting a paper to a wellregarded journal that was complete and utter bullshit.
Now, in beyond the hoax, sokal revisits this remarkable chapter in our intellectual history to illuminate issues that are with us even more pressingly today than they were a decade ago. Alan sokol is beloved by most conservatives for his prank that supposedly proved the foolishness of postmodern theory. He works in statistical mechanics and combinatorics. The sokal hoax in the nineties happened when alan sokal, a physicist, had a paper published using trendy terms from postmodern discourse and a ton of citations from well known postmodern philosophers it was a paper purposely put together to be profound sounding gibberish and it fooled the editors of social text. Aug 15, 2012 sokals book begins with a rigourously annotated version of his social text essay, and beyond the hoax is a worthwhile read for this feature alone. Prof sokal has also written a comment piece asking why british taxpayers are funding faith schools and homeopathy. The sham that shook the academy by the editors of lingua franca.
Isbn 9780199561834 9780199561834 softcover, oxford university press, 2010. The fallibility of human reason in everyday life new york. In 1996, alan sokal, a professor of physics at new york university, wrote a paper for the culturalstudies journal socia. The hilarious hoax that should have taught the academy a. The hilarious hoax that should have taught the academy a lesson. This was obvious first in sokals own account in lingua franca of what he had done very amusing and why tedious and.
Alan sokal is a physics professor at new york university and the author of beyond the hoax. In 1996, nyu physicist sokal published a paper entitled transgressing the boundaries. In 1996, sokal submitted an article to social text, an academic journal of postmodern cultural studies. Science, philosophy and culture oxford university press, oxford, 2008, paperback 2010, isbn paperback. Sokal is best known for the sokal affair, in which he submitted a deliberately absurd article to social text, a critical theory journal, and was able to get it published. When physicist alan sokal revealed that his 1996 article, transgressing the boundaries. In 1996, alan sokal perpetrated a hoax, one that he held to be useful, beneficial, and ethical, since, unlike most frauds, he immediately revealed what he had done. A philosophical reading of the controversy in 1996, the physicist alan sokal perpetrated a hoax on the academic journal social text intended to text the intellectual rigor of postmodernist thinking. After the article was published, sokal revealed his ruse and argued that academia was overtaken by a bunch of postmodern scholars who were critical of science, despite the. The targets of sokals satire occupy a broad intellectual range. This book starts with explaining sokals academic hoax, but it only uses this as a springboard to discuss the wider issues of scientific realism. In 1996, the cultural studies journal social text published a.
The sokal hoax became frontpage news around the world and triggered fierce and wideranging convtroversy for an article that was published in a culturalstudies journal was swiftly revealed by its author, alan sokal, to be a cunningly worded parody of extreme postmodernist criticism of science. Intellectual impostures he, along with jean bricmont, had already dissected the piece and the. The book is a collection of essays he has written on the topic. Academic left and its quarrels with science, by paul gross and norman levitt 1994. Toward a transformative hermeneutics of quantum gravity, published in social text, was a hoax, the ensuing scandal made the front page of the new york times and caused an uproar among the postmodernists he had so hilariouslyand convincinglyparodied. May 11, 2008 now, in beyond the hoax, sokal revisits this remarkable chapter in our intellectual history to illuminate issues that are with us even more pressingly today than they were a decade ago. Famed for his 1996 hoax that parodied the extreme postmodernist criticism of science, alan sokal here exposes many other examples of. Science, philosophy and culture more editions of beyond the hoax. The difference is that sokals hoax served a public purpose, to attract attention to what sokal saw as a decline of standards of rigor in the academic community, and for that reason it was disclosed immediately by the author himself. Mar, 2008 its author was the physicist alan sokal, who had taken on the challenge of assessing the philosophical and political implications of the quest to unify the two cornerstones of modern physics. In 1996, alan sokal, a professor of physics at new york university, wrote a paper for the culturalstudies. He also cowrote humanitarian imperialism, with diana johnstone. In beyond the hoax he turns his attention to a new set of targets pseudoscience, religion, and misinformation in public life. Sokals hoax, that concoction of pseudoscholarship and pomobabble, reprinted with commentary in an appendix.
Toward a transformative hermeneutics of quantum gravity, first published in social text springsummer, 1996. The reasons they give are various, but the ultimate justification for most religious peoples beliefs is a simple one. Beyond the hoax science, philosophy and culture alan sokal. Sokal s main argument, then and now, is for the centrality of evidence in all matters of public debate. Find signed collectible books by alan sokal english. Each religion makes scores of purportedly factual assertions about everything from the creation of the universe to the afterlife. Alan sokal is professor of physics at new york university and professor of mathematics at university college, london. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. In 1996, alan sokal, a professor of physics at new york university, wrote a paper for the culturalstudies journal social text, entitled. Intellectual impostures has been called, in france, the product of a belgian inferiority complex, kristeva has called it misinformation, while derrida just says le pauvre sokal.
Prof sokal also has a book out called beyond the hoax. No, i dont believe the authors did it for the megabucks. Alan sokal is professor of physics at new york university and professor of mathematics at university college london. Alan sokal project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. In 1996, the physicist alan sokal perpetrated a hoax on the academic journal social text intended to text the intellectual rigor of postmodernist thinking. Impostures intellectuelles, published in the uk as intellectual impostures, is a book by physicists alan sokal and jean bricmont. Today, bruce robbins, a columbia university humanities professor who was a coeditor of social text, tells the chronicle of higher education that sokals essay appealed because he seemed to be a. This book starts with explaining sokal s academic hoax, but it only uses this as a springboard to discuss the wider issues of scientific realism. Science, philosophy and culture kindle edition by sokal, alan. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading beyond the hoax.
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