Overview
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 immediately confessed 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, the fundamentalists 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 hugely illuminating annotated text of the Hoax itself, and a reflection on the furore it provoked.
Full Product Details
Author: Alan Sokal (Professor of Physics at New York University and Professor of Mathematics at University College, London)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 17.10cm
, Height: 2.80cm
, Length: 24.60cm
Weight: 0.847kg
ISBN: 9780199561834
ISBN 10: 0199561834
Pages: 488
Publication Date: 11 February 2010
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
Review from previous edition If you're concerned about the role of science in making sense of our world, you need to read it. BBC Focus, Robert Matthews Most scientists will be highly appreciative of and deeply fascinated by what Sokal has to say in this remarkable book. Chemistry World
Most scientists will be highly appreciative of and deeply fascinated by what Sokal has to say in this remarkable book. * Chemistry World * Review from previous edition If you're concerned about the role of science in making sense of our world, you need to read it. * BBC Focus, Robert Matthews *
`Review from previous edition If you're concerned about the role of science in making sense of our world, you need to read it.' BBC Focus, Robert Matthews `Most scientists will be highly appreciative of and deeply fascinated by what Sokal has to say in this remarkable book.' Chemistry World
`Review from previous edition If you're concerned about the role of science in making sense of our world, you need to read it.' BBC Focus, Robert Matthews `Most scientists will be highly appreciative of and deeply fascinated by what Sokal has to say in this remarkable book.' Chemistry World
Author Information
Alan Sokal is Professor of Physics at New York University and Professor of Mathematics at University College, London. His main research interests are in statistical mechanics and quantum field theory. Among non-physicists, Sokal is probably best known for his famous parody of postmodern science criticism, known as the 'Sokal Hoax', which aroused fierce debate in cultural circles, and received widespread coverage in the media, including front-page stories in the New York Times, the International Herald and Tribune, the Observer, and Le Monde. Alongside many publications in physics, Sokal's previous books include Intellectual Impostures (with Jean Bricmont, Profile Books, 1998; published as Fashionable Nonsense by Picador in the US).
