Beyond the Hoax: Science, Philosophy and Culture
Oxford University Press (2008)
| Abstract | In 1996, Alan Sokal, a Professor of Physics at New York University, wrote a paper for the cultural-studies journal Social Text, entitled: 'Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a transformative hermeneutics of quantum gravity'. It was reviewed, accepted and published. Sokal immediately confessed that the whole article was a hoax - a cunningly worded paper designed to expose and parody the style of extreme postmodernist criticism of science. The story became front-page news around the world and triggered fierce and wide-ranging controversy. Sokal is one of the most powerful voices in the continuing debate about the status of evidence-based knowledge. In Beyond the Hoax he turns his attention to a new set of targets - pseudo-science, religion, and misinformation in public life. 'Whether my targets are the postmodernists of the left, the fundamentalists of the right, or the muddle-headed of all political and apolitical stripes, the bottom line is that clear thinking, combined with a respect for evidence, are of the utmost importance to the survival of the human race in the twenty-first century.' The book also includes a hugely illuminating annotated text of the Hoax itself, and a reflection on the furore it provoked. | |||||||||
| Keywords | Science Philosophy Evidence Pseudoscience Fraud in science | |||||||||
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| Buy the book | $29.89 direct from Amazon (26% off) Amazon page | |||||||||
| Call number | Q175.S6395 2008 | |||||||||
| ISBN(s) | 0199239207 9780199239207 | |||||||||
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Similar books and articlesPaul Boghossian (1996). What the Sokal Hoax Ought to Teach Us. Times Literary Supplement.
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