“A Physicist Investigates the Intellectual Bankruptcy of the Postmodern Faux Left”

by limbic on July 25, 2002

“In its 1996 Spring/Summer issue (pp. 217-252), Social Text journal published an article by Allan Sokal, Professor of Physics at New York University, entitled “Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity.” The article was a hoax submitted, according to Sokal, to see “would a leading journal of cultural studies publish an article liberally salted with nonsense if (a) it sounded good and (b) it flattered the editors’ ideological preconceptions?” It would.[ Source]

The spoof article: “Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity

Sokal’s comments on the affair are here.

An excellent portal dedicated to the incident.

Postmodernism Disrobed by Richard Dawkins.

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