Front cover image for Fashionable nonsense : postmodern intellectuals' abuse of science

Fashionable nonsense : postmodern intellectuals' abuse of science

"In 1996, Alan Sokal Published an Essay in the hip intellectual magazine Social Text parodying the scientific but impenetrable lingo of contemporary theorists. On the heels of the fierce academic debate that followed the hoax, Sokal teams up with Jean Bricmont to expose the abuse of scientific concepts in the writings of today's most fashionable postmodern thinkers. From Jacques Lacan and Julia Kristeva to Luce Irigaray and Jean Baudrillard, the authors document the errors made by some postmodernists using science to bolster their arguments and theories. Witty and closely reasoned, Fashionable Nonsense dispels the notion that scientific theories are mere "narratives" or social constructions, and explores the abilities and the limits of science to describe the conditions of existence. Book jacket."--Jacket
Print Book, English, 1998
Picador USA, New York, 1998
xiv, 300 pages ; 22 cm
9780312195458, 9780312204075, 0312195451, 0312204078
39605994
Introduction
Jacques Lacan
Julia Kristeva
Intermezzo: epistemic relativism in the philosophy of science
Luce Irigaray
Bruno Latour
Intermezzo: chaos theory and "postmodern science"
Jean Baudrillard
Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari
Paul Virilio
Gödel's theorem and set theory: some examples of abuse
Epilogue. A. Trangressing the boundaries: toward a transformative hermeneutics of quantum gravity. B. Some comments on the parody. C. Transgressing the boundaries: an afterword