Advanced Search Request a Book

ORDERS

Readings Orders 0

DEMANDS

Readings Demands 0

Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' abuse Of Science
[Paperback - 1999]
alan sokal
On Demand
Availability in 4-6 weeks on receipt of order
List Price: $22
Our Price: Rs.5045 Rs.4288
Standard Discount: 15%
You Save: Rs.757
Category: Philosophy
Sub-category: Philosophy
Publisher: Picador Usa | ISBN: 9780312204075 | Pages: 320
Shipping Weight: 1.045 | Dimensions: null

Description

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.

About the Author

Alan David Sokal (born 1955) is a professor of mathematics at University College London and professor of physics at New York University. He works in statistical mechanics and combinatorics. To the general public he is best known for his criticism of postmodernism, resulting inthe Sokal affairin 1996.Sokal received his B.A. from Harvard College in 1976 and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1981. He was advised by Arthur Wightman. In the summers of 1986-1988, Sokal taught mathematics at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, when the Sandinistas were heading the elected government.Sokal’s research lies in mathematical physics and combinatorics. In particular, he studies the interplay between these fields based on questions arising in statistical mechanics and quantum field theory. This includes work on the chromatic polynomial and the Tutte polynomial, which appear both in algebraic graph theory and in the study of phase transitions in statistical mechanics. His interests include computational physics and algorithms, such as Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms for problems in statistical physics. He also co-authored a book on quantum triviality.Sokal is best known to the general public for the Sokal Affair of 1996. Curious to see whether the then-non-peer-reviewed postmodern cultural studies journal Social Text (published by Duke University Press) would publish a submission which "flattered the editors' ideological preconceptions," Sokal submitted a grand-sounding but completely nonsensical paper entitled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity."The journal did in fact publish it, and soon thereafter Sokal then revealed that the article was a hoax in the journal Lingua Franca, arguing that the left and social science would be better served by intellectual underpinnings based on reason. He replied to leftist and postmodernist criticism of the deception by saying that his motivation had been to "defend the Left from a trendy segment of itself."The affair, together with Paul R. Gross and Norman Levitt's book Higher Superstition, can be considered to be a part of the so-called Science wars.Sokal followed up by co-authoring the book Impostures Intellectuelles with Jean Bricmont in 1997 (published in English, a year later, as Fashionable Nonsense). The book accuses other academics of using scientific and mathematical terms incorrectly and criticizes proponents of the strong program for denying the value of truth. The book had mixed reviews, with some lauding the effort, some more reserved, and others pointing out alleged inconsistencies and criticizing the authors for ignorance of the fields under attack and taking passages out of context.In 2008, Sokal revisited the Sokal affair and its implications in Beyond the Hoax.

Bestsellers in Philosophy

View All
Meditations (Translation)
[Paperback - 2006]
marcus aurelius
In Stock
List Price: £8.99
Our Price: Rs.1645 Rs.1480
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.165
Leviathan
[Paperback - 2017]
thomas hobbes
Out of Stock
Availability in 2-4 weeks on receipt of order
List Price: £12.99
Our Price: Rs.2545 Rs.2290
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.255
Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Translation)
[Paperback - 2003]
friedrich nietzsche
In Stock
List Price: £9.99
Our Price: Rs.2395 Rs.2155
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.240
Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters
[Paperback - 2022]
steven pinker
Out of Stock
Availability in 2-4 weeks on receipt of order
List Price: £10.99
Our Price: Rs.2795 Rs.2515
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.280
The Art Of War
[Paperback - 2009]
sun-tzu
In Stock
List Price: $15
Our Price: Rs.2945 Rs.2650
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.295
Critique Of Pure Reason
[Paperback - 2007]
immanuel kant
Out of Stock
Availability in 2-4 weeks on receipt of order
List Price: £18.99
Our Price: Rs.3495 Rs.3145
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.350
A Treatise Of Human Nature
[Paperback - 1985]
david hume
Out of Stock
Availability in 2-4 weeks on receipt of order
List Price: £14.99
Our Price: Rs.2845 Rs.2560
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.285
Beyond Good And Evil
[Paperback - 2003]
friedrich nietzsche
Out of Stock
Availability in 2-4 weeks on receipt of order
List Price: £9.99
Our Price: Rs.2395 Rs.2155
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.240
The Birth Of Tragedy (Translation)
[Paperback - 2003]
friedrich nietzsche
Out of Stock
Availability in 2-4 weeks on receipt of order
List Price: £8.99
Our Price: Rs.2195 Rs.1975
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.220
Notes On Nationalism: Penguin Modern Book 7
[Paperback - 2018]
george orwell
Out of Stock
Availability in 2-4 weeks on receipt of order
List Price: £3
Our Price: Rs.645 Rs.580
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.65
The Story Of Philosophy
[Paperback - 2006]
will durant
In Stock
List Price: $9.99
Our Price: Rs.2195 Rs.1975
Standard Discount: 10%
You Save: Rs.220