Beyond the Hoax Science, Philosophy and Culture

Author/creator Sokal, Alan Author
Format Electronic
Publication InfoNew York : Oxford University Press, Incorporated
Description488 p. 09.480 x 06.740 in.
Supplemental ContentFull text available from Ebook Central - Academic Complete
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Summary Annotation In 1996, Alan Sokal, a Professor of Physics at New York University, wrote a paper for the cultural-studies journal Social Text, entitled 'Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a transformative hermeneutics of quantum gravity'. It was reviewed, accepted and published. Sokal immediatelyconfessed that the whole article was a hoax - a cunningly worded paper designed to expose and parody the style of extreme postmodernist criticism of science. The story became front-page news around the world and triggered fierce and wide-ranging controversy. Sokal is one of the most powerful voices in the continuing debate about the status of evidence-based knowledge. In Beyond the Hoax he turns his attention to a new set of targets - pseudo-science, religion, and misinformation in public life. 'Whether my targets are the postmodernists of the left, thefundamentalists of the right, or the muddle-headed of all political and apolitical stripes, the bottom line is that clear thinking, combined with a respect for evidence, are of the utmost importance to the survival of the human race in the twenty-first century.' The book also includes a hugelyilluminating annotated text of the Hoax itself, and a reflection on the furore it provoked.
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Technical detailsMode of access: World Wide Web
Genre/formElectronic books.
ISBN9780199561834
ISBN0199561834 (Trade Paper) Active Record
Standard identifier# 9780199561834
Stock number00020142

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