When physicist Alan Sokal revealed that his 1996 article, "Transgressing the Boundaries: 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 post-modernists he had so hilariously--and convincingly--parodied. 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. Sokal's main argument, then and now, is for the centrality of evidence in all matters of public debate. The original article, (included in the book, with new explanatory footnotes), exposed the faulty thinking and outright nonsense of the postmodernist critique of science, which asserts that facts, truth, evidence, even reality itself are all merely social constructs. Today, right wing politicians and industry executives are happily manipulating these basic tenents of postmodernism to obscure the scientific consensus on global warming, biological evolution, second-hand smoke, and a host of other issues. Indeed, Sokal shows that academic leftists have unwittingly abetted right wing ideologies by wrapping themselves in a relativistic fog where any belief is as valid as any other because all claims to truth must be regarded as equally suspect. Sokal's goal, throughout the book, is to expose the dangers in such thinking and to defend a scientific worldview based on respect for evidence, logic, and reasoned argument over wishful thinking, superstition, and demagoguery of any kind. Written with rare lucidity, a lively wit, and a keen appreciation of the real-world consequences of sloppy thinking, Beyond the Hoax is essential reading for anyone concerned with the state of American culture today.

Beyond the Hoax: Science, Philosophy and Culture

Sokal, Alan

Science & Math

Oxford University Press

Famed for his 1996 hoax that parodied the extreme postmodernist criticism of science, Alan Sokal here exposes many other examples of charlatanism, deflating the postmodernists of the left, the fundamentalists of the right, and the muddle-headed of all political and apolitical stripes. Sokal does revisit his infamous hoax--the original article is included in the book, with new explanatory footnotes--to illuminate issues that are with us even more pressingly today. But the book ranges far beyond this one famous case, to reveal for instance how conservative politicians and industry executives are happily manipulating the vaporous tenets of postmodernism to obscure the scientific consensus on global warming, biological evolution, second-hand smoke, and a host of other issues. Written with rare lucidity, a lively wit, and a keen appreciation of the real-world consequences of sloppy thinking, Beyond the Hoax offers an engaging argument for the vital importance of evidence-based science, showing that clear thinking, combined with a respect for evidence, are of the utmost importance to the survival of the human race.

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

In 1996, Alan Sokal published an essay in the hip intellectual magazine Social Text parodying the scientific but impenetrable lingo of contemporary theorists. Here, Sokal teams up with Jean Bricmont to expose the abuse of scientific concepts in the writings of today's most fashionable postmodern thinkers. From Jacques Lacan and Julia Kristeva to Luce Irigaray and Jean Baudrillard, the authors document the errors made by some postmodernists using science to bolster their arguments and theories. Witty and closely reasoned, Fashionable Nonsense dispels the notion that scientific theories are mere "narratives" or social constructions, and explored the abilities and the limits of science to describe the conditions of existence.

Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science

Literature & Fiction

Bricmont, Jean

History & Criticism

Picador

?Au printemps 1996, une revue américaine fort respectée - Social Text -, publiait un article au titre étrange : "Transgresser les frontières : vers une herméneutique transformative de la gravitation quantique."?Son auteur, Alan Sokal, étayait ses divagations par des citations d'intellectuels célèbres, français et américains. Peu après, il révélait qu'il s'agissait d'une parodie.?Son but était de s'attaquer, par la satire, à l'usage intempestif de terminologie scientifique et aux extrapolations abusives des sciences exactes aux sciences humaines. Plus généralement, il voulait dénoncer le relativisme postmoderne pour lequel l'objectivité est une simple convention sociale. Ce canular a déclenché un vif débat dans les milieux intellectuels, en France et à l'étranger. Dans ce livre, les auteurs ont rassemblé et commenté des textes illustrant les mystifications physico-mathématiques de Jacques Lacan, Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray, Bruno Latour, Jean Baudrillard, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari et Paul Virilio, auteurs qui jouissent tous d'une grande notoriété aux États-Unis.?Ils montrent que, derrière un jargon imposant et une érudition scientifique apparente, le roi est nu. ?Alan Sokal est professeur de physique à l'université de New York. Jean Bricmont est professeur de physique théorique à l'université de Louvain.

Impostures Intellectuelles (French Language Edition)

JACOB

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Books by Sokal, Alan

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sokal, Alan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Beyond the Hoax: Science, Philosophy and Culture

Beyond the Hoax: Science, Philosophy and Culture

Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science

Impostures Intellectuelles (French Language Edition)