The Sokal Hoax

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Unk's Troll-free Private Saloon : One Thread

A reminder that pompous intellectual journals can be pompously stupid. From the following LINK:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then, too, there is the more recent case of City University of New York professor Stanley Aronowitz. It was Aronowitz, you may remember, who was victimized by "Sokal's Hoax" back in 1995, when the left-wing journal he'd founded, Social Text, published a paper by the physicist Alan Sokal called "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity". The only problem was that the paper turned out to be a parody of deconstructionist double-speak. With mock-seriousness, Sokal claimed to show how "the space-time manifold ceases to exist as an objective physical reality." In other words, he set out to prove that the world didn't exist. Sokal's methodology was simply to string together "the silliest quotes about mathematics and physics from the most prominent academics" — including citations of Aronowitz himself. Six editors at Social Text read the paper before it was accepted for publication. Then Sokal told his story to the journal Lingua Franca. When word of the hoax broke, it too made the front page of the New York Times. Aronowitz and his cronies were instantly transformed from obscure eggheads into tenured laughingstocks — at least in the eyes of the general public.

That should have ended the story. Except that three years later, and notwithstanding the whiff of national humiliation, Aronowitz was promoted by City University from plain old professor to distinguished professor of sociology.

Which raises the question: If being a front-page laughingstock cannot derail the career, or even dim the reputation, of an intellectual in the humanities, what can?

A Way to Go NEW YORK — “It’s the Regime, Stupid.” By William F. Buckley Jr. 12/14/01 12:55 p.m.

Raising Zell WASHINGTON, DC — Why not make Zell Miller majority leader? By Ramesh Ponnuru & John J. Miller. 12/14/01 12:05 p.m.

Our Jurassic Park FRESNO — The fossils of wartime conventional wisdom. By Victor Davis Hanson. 12/14/01 11:50 a.m.

Back to NRO Then, too, there is the more recent case of City University of New York professor Stanley Aronowitz. It was Aronowitz, you may remember, who was victimized by "Sokal's Hoax" back in 1995, when the left-wing journal he'd founded, Social Text, published a paper by the physicist Alan Sokal called "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity." The only problem was that the paper turned out to be a parody of deconstructionist double-speak. With mock-seriousness, Sokal claimed to show how "the space-time manifold ceases to exist as an objective physical reality." In other words, he set out to prove that the world didn't exist. Sokal's methodology was simply to string together "the silliest quotes about mathematics and physics from the most prominent academics" — including citations of Aronowitz himself. Six editors at Social Text read the paper before it was accepted for publication. Then Sokal told his story to the journal Lingua Franca. When word of the hoax broke, it too made the front page of the New York Times. Aronowitz and his cronies were instantly transformed from obscure eggheads into tenured laughingstocks — at least in the eyes of the general public.

That should have ended the story. Except that three years later, and notwithstanding the whiff of national humiliation, Aronowitz was promoted by City University from plain old professor to distinguished professor of sociology.

Which raises the question: If being a front-page laughingstock cannot derail the career, or even dim the reputation, of an intellectual in the humanities, what can?



-- (lars@indy.net), December 14, 2001

Answers

Try again, the original link---

LINK

-- (lars@indy.net), December 14, 2001.


ROFLMAO

What we have here is a revindication of the classic dictum: "It is bad to be wrong, but it is worse to be understood."

...which is the closing line from another parody piece http://eserver.org /philosophy/anonymous.html

-- Debbie (dbspence@pobox.com), December 14, 2001.


The Museum of Hoaxes.

-- (lars@indy.net), December 15, 2001.

A friend of mine insisted I sit and read Sokal's paper (in a book he put out with it and some commentary, if I remember correctly). It was full of howlers. In his commentary Sokal did say that he was worried that he laid it on too thick in some places. Worse than fooling some reviewers, he did quote some prominent philosophers and their supposedly serious remarks were just as silly. I recognized their names, but can't remember which philosophers were the real target.

-- dandelion (golden@pleurisy.plant), December 17, 2001.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ