Beyond the Hoax: Science, Philosophy and Culture

by Alan Sokal

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199561834
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/19/2010
Pages:	488
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.60(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Alan Sokal is Professor of Physics at New York University and Professor of Mathematics at University College, London.

Table of Contents

Part I: The Social Text Affair1. Transgressing the boundaries: Towards a transformative hermeneutics of quantum gravity [annotated version]2. Transgressing the boundaries: An afterword3. Truth, reason, objectivity, and the Left4. Science studies: Less than meets the eye5. What the Social Text affair does and does not provePart II: Science and Philosophy6. Cognitive relativism in the philosophy of science7. Defense of a modest scientific realismPart III: Science and Culture8. Pseudoscience and postmodernism: Antagonists or fellow-travelers? 9. Religion, politics and survival10. Epilogue: Epistemology and ethicsIndex

Editorial Reviews

In 1996, NYU physicist Sokal published a paper entitled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity" in an academic journal. Shortly thereafter, and to great furor, Sokal reported that his paper was a parody of postmodernism. This collection of 10 essays, six of which have been previously published, expands upon the central ideas of that academic joke. Sokal demands a "respect for evidence" and attacks postmodernists, fundamentalists and "the muddle-headed of all political and apolitical stripes." The opening chapter presents the original hoax paper in its entirety, with the addition of annotations describing how he came to write it and explaining all the inside jokes. In subsequent chapters, Sokal explains how postmodernists "confuse truth with claims of truth, fact with assertions of fact, and knowledge with pretensions to knowledge," and demonstrates how pseudoscientists have adopted a similar perspective. In biting prose, he analyzes the concept of "therapeutic touch" being promoted in nursing and "Vedic science" being advanced by Hindu nationalists. Though he concludes with his weakest argument-that religion is simply another form of pseudoscience-Sokal consistently asks the reader to think clearly and follow the evidence, regardless of where it may lead, and for that alone he deserves respect. (May)

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Publishers Weekly

"Sokal has an admirable passion for clarity of thought, and is commendably opposed to those who would pass off nonsense as profundity, whether they be commentators on science, spokesmen for religion, or the governments of nations." — Nature

"Beyond the Hoax is an essential text for anyone interested in the history and philosophy of science, or for that matter science itself."—New York Sun

"Sokal's defense of scientific realism is, as he claims, modest, and its modesty is what makes it cogent and convincing"—IAmerican Scientist

From the Publisher