Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals’ Abuse Of Science [DJVU]

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E-Book Overview

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.Now 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.At once provocative and measured, Fashionable Nonsense is a passionate defense of science and sense.

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E-Book Information

• Year: 1,998

• Edition: English Edition

• Pages: 300

• Pages In File: 328

• Language: English

• Topic: 180

• Identifier: 0312195451,9780312195458

• Org File Size: 6,293,550

• Extension: djvu

• Toc: Front Cover......Page 1Front Jacket......Page 2Title Page......Page 7Contents......Page 11Preface to the English Edition......Page 131 . Introduction......Page 212. Jacques Lacan......Page 383. Julia Kristeva......Page 584. Intermezzo: Epistemic Relativism in the Philosophy of Science......Page 705. Luce Irigaray......Page 1266. Bruno Latour......Page 1447. Intermezzo: Chaos Theory and “Postmodern Science......Page 1548. Jean Baudrillard......Page 1679. Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari......Page 17410. Paul Virilio......Page 18911. Godel’s Theorem and Set Theory: Some Examples of Abuse......Page 19612. Epilogue......Page 202A. Transgressing the Boundaries:Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity......Page 232B. Some Comments on the Parody......Page 279C. Transgressing the Boundaries: An Afterword......Page 288Bibliography......Page 301Index......Page 317Back Jacket......Page 327Back Cover......Page 328