Sokal affair
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| - | The '''Sokal affair''', also called the '''Sokal hoax''',<ref name="Derrida97">Derrida (1997)</ref> was a [[List of scholarly publishing hoaxes|scholarly publishing hoax]] perpetrated by [[Alan Sokal]], a [[physics]] professor at [[New York University]] and [[University College London]]. In 1996, Sokal submitted an article to ''[[Social Text]]'', an academic journal of [[postmodern]] [[cultural studies]]. The submission was an experiment to test the journal's [[Rigour#Intellectual rigour|intellectual rigor]] and, specifically, to investigate whether "a leading North American journal of cultural studies – whose editorial collective includes such luminaries as [[Fredric Jameson]] and [[Andrew Ross (sociologist)|Andrew Ross]] – [would] publish an article liberally salted with nonsense if (a) it sounded good and (b) it flattered the editors' ideological preconceptions".<ref name="experiments">{{cite web |url=http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/lingua_franca_v4/lingua_franca_v4.html |title=A Physicist Experiments with Cultural Studies |last=Sokal |first=Alan D.|work=''[[Lingua Franca (magazine)|Lingua Franca]]'' |date= 5 June 1996 |accessdate= 2016-10-28 }}</ref> | + | The '''Sokal affair''', also called the '''Sokal hoax''', was a [[List of scholarly publishing hoaxes|scholarly publishing hoax]] perpetrated by [[Alan Sokal]], a [[physics]] professor at [[New York University]] and [[University College London]]. In 1996, Sokal submitted an article to ''[[Social Text]]'', an academic journal of [[postmodern]] [[cultural studies]]. The submission was an experiment to test the journal's [[Rigour#Intellectual rigour|intellectual rigor]] and, specifically, to investigate whether "a leading North American journal of cultural studies – whose editorial collective includes such luminaries as [[Fredric Jameson]] and [[Andrew Ross (sociologist)|Andrew Ross]] – [would] publish an article liberally salted with nonsense if (a) it sounded good and (b) it flattered the editors' ideological preconceptions". |
| - | The article, "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity",<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Sokal|first1=Alan D.|title=Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity|journal=Social Text|date=1996|volume=46–47|pages=217–252|doi=10.2307/466856|url=http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/transgress_v2/transgress_v2_singlefile.html}}</ref> was published in the ''Social Text'' spring/summer 1996 "[[Science Wars]]" issue. It proposed that [[quantum gravity]] is a social and linguistic construct. At that time, the journal did not practice academic [[peer review]] and it did not submit the article for outside expert review by a physicist.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/transgress_v2/transgress_v2_singlefile.html| title = Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity| accessdate=April 3, 2007| last = Sokal| first = Alan D.| date=November 28, 1994| work = [[Social Text]] #46/47 (spring/summer 1996)| publisher = [[Duke University]] Press| pages = 217–252}}</ref><ref name="MST">{{cite journal| journal = [[Lingua Franca (magazine)|Lingua Franca]]| url = http://linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org/9607/mst.html| title = Mystery science theater| author1 = Bruce Robbins| author2 = Andrew Ross|date=July 1996}}. Reply by Alan Sokal.</ref> On the day of its publication in May 1996, Sokal revealed in ''[[Lingua Franca (magazine)|Lingua Franca]]'' that the article was a hoax.<ref name="experiments"/> | + | The article, "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity", was published in the ''Social Text'' spring/summer 1996 "[[Science Wars]]" issue. It proposed that [[quantum gravity]] is a social and linguistic construct. At that time, the journal did not practice academic [[peer review]] and it did not submit the article for outside expert review by a physicist. On the day of its publication in May 1996, Sokal revealed in ''[[Lingua Franca (magazine)|Lingua Franca]]'' that the article was a hoax. |
| The hoax sparked a debate about the scholarly merit of [[humanism|humanistic]] commentary about the physical sciences; the influence of [[postmodern philosophy]] on social disciplines in general; academic ethics, including whether Sokal was wrong to deceive the editors and readers of ''Social Text''; and whether ''Social Text'' had exercised appropriate intellectual rigor. | The hoax sparked a debate about the scholarly merit of [[humanism|humanistic]] commentary about the physical sciences; the influence of [[postmodern philosophy]] on social disciplines in general; academic ethics, including whether Sokal was wrong to deceive the editors and readers of ''Social Text''; and whether ''Social Text'' had exercised appropriate intellectual rigor. | ||
| ===Content of the article=== | ===Content of the article=== | ||
| - | "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity" proposed that [[quantum gravity]] has [[Progressivism|progressive]] political implications, and that the "[[morphogenetic field (Rupert Sheldrake)|morphogenetic field]]" could be a cutting-edge theory of quantum gravity (a morphogenetic field is a concept adapted by [[Rupert Sheldrake]] in a way that Sokal characterized in the affair's aftermath as "a bizarre [[New Age]] idea").<ref name="experiments"/> Sokal wrote that the concept of "an external world whose properties are independent of any individual human being" was "dogma imposed by the long post-Enlightenment hegemony over the Western intellectual outlook". | + | "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity" proposed that [[quantum gravity]] has [[Progressivism|progressive]] political implications, and that the "[[morphogenetic field (Rupert Sheldrake)|morphogenetic field]]" could be a cutting-edge theory of quantum gravity (a morphogenetic field is a concept adapted by [[Rupert Sheldrake]] in a way that Sokal characterized in the affair's aftermath as "a bizarre [[New Age]] idea"). Sokal wrote that the concept of "an external world whose properties are independent of any individual human being" was "dogma imposed by the long post-Enlightenment hegemony over the Western intellectual outlook". |
| After referring skeptically to the "so-called scientific method", the article declared that "it is becoming increasingly apparent that physical 'reality{{'"}} is fundamentally "a social and linguistic construct". It went on to state that because scientific research is "inherently theory-laden and self-referential", it "cannot assert a privileged epistemological status with respect to counterhegemonic narratives emanating from dissident or marginalized communities" and that therefore a "liberatory science" and an "emancipatory mathematics", spurning "the elite caste canon of 'high science{{'"}}, needed to be established for a "postmodern science [that] provide[s] powerful intellectual support for the progressive political project". | After referring skeptically to the "so-called scientific method", the article declared that "it is becoming increasingly apparent that physical 'reality{{'"}} is fundamentally "a social and linguistic construct". It went on to state that because scientific research is "inherently theory-laden and self-referential", it "cannot assert a privileged epistemological status with respect to counterhegemonic narratives emanating from dissident or marginalized communities" and that therefore a "liberatory science" and an "emancipatory mathematics", spurning "the elite caste canon of 'high science{{'"}}, needed to be established for a "postmodern science [that] provide[s] powerful intellectual support for the progressive political project". | ||
| Moreover, the article's footnotes conflate academic terms with sociopolitical rhetoric, e.g.: | Moreover, the article's footnotes conflate academic terms with sociopolitical rhetoric, e.g.: | ||
| - | {{quote|Just as [[liberal feminist]]s are frequently content with a minimal agenda of legal and social equality for women and "[[pro-choice]]", so liberal (and even some [[socialist]]) mathematicians are often content to work within the hegemonic [[Zermelo–Fraenkel framework]] (which, reflecting its nineteenth-century liberal origins, already incorporates the axiom of equality) supplemented only by the [[axiom of choice]].}} | + | |
| + | :Just as [[liberal feminist]]s are frequently content with a minimal agenda of legal and social equality for women and "[[pro-choice]]", so liberal (and even some [[socialist]]) mathematicians are often content to work within the hegemonic [[Zermelo–Fraenkel framework]] (which, reflecting its nineteenth-century liberal origins, already incorporates the axiom of equality) supplemented only by the [[axiom of choice]]. | ||
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The Sokal affair, also called the Sokal hoax, was a scholarly publishing hoax perpetrated by Alan Sokal, a physics professor at New York University and University College London. In 1996, Sokal submitted an article to Social Text, an academic journal of postmodern cultural studies. The submission was an experiment to test the journal's intellectual rigor and, specifically, to investigate whether "a leading North American journal of cultural studies – whose editorial collective includes such luminaries as Fredric Jameson and Andrew Ross – [would] publish an article liberally salted with nonsense if (a) it sounded good and (b) it flattered the editors' ideological preconceptions".
The article, "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity", was published in the Social Text spring/summer 1996 "Science Wars" issue. It proposed that quantum gravity is a social and linguistic construct. At that time, the journal did not practice academic peer review and it did not submit the article for outside expert review by a physicist. On the day of its publication in May 1996, Sokal revealed in Lingua Franca that the article was a hoax.
The hoax sparked a debate about the scholarly merit of humanistic commentary about the physical sciences; the influence of postmodern philosophy on social disciplines in general; academic ethics, including whether Sokal was wrong to deceive the editors and readers of Social Text; and whether Social Text had exercised appropriate intellectual rigor.
Content of the article
"Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity" proposed that quantum gravity has progressive political implications, and that the "morphogenetic field" could be a cutting-edge theory of quantum gravity (a morphogenetic field is a concept adapted by Rupert Sheldrake in a way that Sokal characterized in the affair's aftermath as "a bizarre New Age idea"). Sokal wrote that the concept of "an external world whose properties are independent of any individual human being" was "dogma imposed by the long post-Enlightenment hegemony over the Western intellectual outlook".
After referring skeptically to the "so-called scientific method", the article declared that "it is becoming increasingly apparent that physical 'realityTemplate:'" is fundamentally "a social and linguistic construct". It went on to state that because scientific research is "inherently theory-laden and self-referential", it "cannot assert a privileged epistemological status with respect to counterhegemonic narratives emanating from dissident or marginalized communities" and that therefore a "liberatory science" and an "emancipatory mathematics", spurning "the elite caste canon of 'high scienceTemplate:'", needed to be established for a "postmodern science [that] provide[s] powerful intellectual support for the progressive political project".
Moreover, the article's footnotes conflate academic terms with sociopolitical rhetoric, e.g.:
- Just as liberal feminists are frequently content with a minimal agenda of legal and social equality for women and "pro-choice", so liberal (and even some socialist) mathematicians are often content to work within the hegemonic Zermelo–Fraenkel framework (which, reflecting its nineteenth-century liberal origins, already incorporates the axiom of equality) supplemented only by the axiom of choice.
