Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science

Sokal, Alan; Bricmont, Jean

ISBN 10: 0312204078 / ISBN 13: 9780312204075

Verlag: Picador USA, 1999

May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers G0312204078I4N00

Inhaltsangabe:

In 1996 physicist Alan Sokal published an essay in Social Text--an influential academic journal of cultural studies--touting the deep similarities between quantum gravitational theory and postmodern philosophy.

Soon thereafter, the essay was revealed as a brilliant parody, a catalog of nonsense written in the cutting-edge but impenetrable lingo of postmodern theorists. The event sparked a furious debate in academic circles and made the headlines of newspapers in the U.S. and abroad.

In Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science, Sokal and his fellow physicist Jean Bricmont expand from where the hoax left off. In a delightfully witty and clear voice, the two thoughtfully and thoroughly dismantle the pseudo-scientific writings of some of the most fashionable French and American intellectuals. More generally, they challenge the widespread notion that scientific theories are mere "narrations" or social constructions.

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren:

Alan Sokal is a professor of physics at New York University.

Jean Bricmont is a theoretical physicist with the Université de Louvaine in Belgium.

Alan Sokal is a professor of physics at New York University.

Jean Bricmont is a theoretical physicist with the Université de Louvaine in Belgium.

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern ...
Verlag: Picador USA
Erscheinungsdatum: 1999
Einband: Paperback
Zustand: Very Good
Zustand des Schutzumschlags: No Jacket