false 130479 9 In 1996, an article entitled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity" was published in the cultural studies journal <I>Social Text</I>. Packed with recherché quotations from "postmodern" literary theorists and sociologists of science, and bristling with imposing theorems of mathematical physics, the article addressed the cultural and political implications of the theory of quantum gravity. Later, to the embarrassment of the editors, the author revealed that the essay was a hoax, interweaving absurd pronouncements from eminent intellectuals about mathematics and physics with laudatory--but fatuous--prose.<p> In <I>Fashionable Nonsense</I>, Alan Sokal, the author of the hoax, and Jean Bricmont contend that abuse of science is rampant in postmodernist circles, both in the form of inaccurate and pretentious invocation of scientific and mathematical terminology and in the more insidious form of epistemic relativism. When Sokal and Bricmont expose Jacques Lacan's ignorant misuse of topology, or Julia Kristeva's of set theory, or Luce Irigaray's of fluid mechanics, or Jean Baudrillard's of non-Euclidean geometry, they are on safe ground; it is all too clear that these virtuosi are babbling. <p> Their discussion of epistemic relativism--roughly, the idea that scientific and mathematical theories are mere "narrations" or social constructions--is less convincing, however, in part because epistemic relativism is not as intrinsically silly as, say, Regis Debray's maunderings about Gödel, and in part because the authors' own grasp of the philosophy of science frequently verges on the naive. Nevertheless, Sokal and Bricmont are to be commended for their spirited resistance to postmodernity's failure to appreciate science for what it is. <I>--Glenn Branch</I> 125663 1997 Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science total:110|5:21|4:44|3:32|2:6|1:7| 110 396 216 20 4 4 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Fri Nov 14 13:09:58 -0800 2008 Tue Apr 07 15:47:13 -0700 2009 Text entitled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity." If that title means little to you, that's OK because the article was, in fact, nonsense. It was part of an elaborate hoax and parod...more...]]> 4 6 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Sep 10 07:10:18 -0700 2007 Mon Sep 10 08:12:40 -0700 2007 "We can clearly see that there is no bi-univocal correspondence between linear signifying links or archi-writing, depending on the author, and this multireferential, multi-dimensional machinic catalysis. The symmetry of scale, the transversality, the pathic non-discursive character of their exp...more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jan 28 15:18:40 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 28 15:46:00 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false true Fri Jul 06 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 07 01:34:30 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 22 01:27:42 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jul 10 17:31:45 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 10 17:38:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Sep 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 12 13:25:56 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 12 13:36:30 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false false Fri Mar 28 05:16:54 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 29 06:29:55 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Mar 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 05 16:45:05 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 12 13:46:17 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Dec 22 23:37:41 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 22 23:42:45 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jul 29 15:03:53 -0700 2007 Thu Dec 04 12:13:57 -0800 2008
The article was called "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneuti...more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Jun 01 10:59:26 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 01 11:06:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Apr 07 00:00:30 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 07 00:06:56 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri May 09 20:07:31 -0700 2008 Fri May 09 20:09:02 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jun 26 14:09:09 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 26 14:23:14 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 0 false false Thu Sep 24 09:23:31 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 05 10:56:28 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 24 09:23:31 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Feb 20 00:23:52 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 20 10:15:40 -0800 2008 Fashionable Nonsene carefully parse through the inane psycho-babble of exalted lunatics like Jacque Lacan to expose them for the frauds that they are. This is a must-read for any student of the humanities who has had to suffer...more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Jul 02 13:09:04 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 24 10:06:54 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Wed Feb 21 04:13:14 -0800 2007 Wed Feb 21 16:04:12 -0800 2007
The whole story began when Alan Sokal tricked a post-modern magazine into publishing a nonsensical article...]]> 3 0 true false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu May 10 11:45:45 -0700 2007 Thu May 10 11:46:58 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Thu Nov 22 11:11:29 -0800 2007 Thu Nov 22 11:11:48 -0800 2007