Philosophy
Upfront, I have not seen this book but it apparently has caused quite a turmoil.
In 1996, an article entitled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity" was published in the cultural studies journal Social Text. 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.
In Intellectual Imposteurs, 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.
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. --Glenn Branch, Amazon.com.
Here is the preface and Chapter One
And...
Richard Dawkins' "Postmodernism disrobed"
This tidbit was provided by anti-postmodernist stringer Tim.
- Derrida, Global Warming, And Naomi Wolf
Over at Lawyers, Guns, and Money, d takes whack at Naomi Wolf: Here she is in medias absurdum: "In the Reagan era, when the Iran-contra scandal showed a disregard for the rule of law, college students were preoccupied with the fashionable theories of...
- Ross, Kuhn, And Sokal
A couple very nice discussions going over at Adventures in Ethics and Science about Marcus Ross, the young earth creationist who has written what his advisor termed an impeccable doctoral dissertation about the population dynamics of a marine reptile...
- Smartest People You've Never Heard Of (poincare Edition)
I'd been considering an occasional series about fascinating characters from intellectual history that are largely absent from the collective mind and with all of the fuss over the confirmation of the solution of Poincare's conjecture (for a nice...
- Sir Isaac Newton's "philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" At Auction
"Sotheby’s to offer first edition of Newton's 'Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy'" by Ashoke Nag Nov,ember 23rd, 2013 The Economic Times On 27th November 2013, Sotheby's London will offer a first edition of the most important...
- Franceso Ingoli, Galileo And The Roman Inquisition
In January of 1616, the month before before the Roman Inquisition would infamously condemn the Copernican theory as being “foolish and absurd in philosophy”, Monsignor Francesco Ingoli addressed Galileo Galilei with an essay entitled “Disputation...
Philosophy
"Intellectual Impostures"...French postmodern science
Intellectual Impostures
by
Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont
ISBN-10: 1861976313
ISBN-13: 978-1861976314
by
Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont
ISBN-10: 1861976313
ISBN-13: 978-1861976314
Upfront, I have not seen this book but it apparently has caused quite a turmoil.
In 1996, an article entitled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity" was published in the cultural studies journal Social Text. 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.
In Intellectual Imposteurs, 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.
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. --Glenn Branch, Amazon.com.
Here is the preface and Chapter One
And...
Richard Dawkins' "Postmodernism disrobed"
This tidbit was provided by anti-postmodernist stringer Tim.
- Derrida, Global Warming, And Naomi Wolf
Over at Lawyers, Guns, and Money, d takes whack at Naomi Wolf: Here she is in medias absurdum: "In the Reagan era, when the Iran-contra scandal showed a disregard for the rule of law, college students were preoccupied with the fashionable theories of...
- Ross, Kuhn, And Sokal
A couple very nice discussions going over at Adventures in Ethics and Science about Marcus Ross, the young earth creationist who has written what his advisor termed an impeccable doctoral dissertation about the population dynamics of a marine reptile...
- Smartest People You've Never Heard Of (poincare Edition)
I'd been considering an occasional series about fascinating characters from intellectual history that are largely absent from the collective mind and with all of the fuss over the confirmation of the solution of Poincare's conjecture (for a nice...
- Sir Isaac Newton's "philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" At Auction
"Sotheby’s to offer first edition of Newton's 'Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy'" by Ashoke Nag Nov,ember 23rd, 2013 The Economic Times On 27th November 2013, Sotheby's London will offer a first edition of the most important...
- Franceso Ingoli, Galileo And The Roman Inquisition
In January of 1616, the month before before the Roman Inquisition would infamously condemn the Copernican theory as being “foolish and absurd in philosophy”, Monsignor Francesco Ingoli addressed Galileo Galilei with an essay entitled “Disputation...