[Intellectual hoaxes. Various observations on epistemology and the human sciences].
In 1996, a New York physicist, Alan Sokal, published an article entitled "Transgressing the boundaries: towards transformative hermeneutics of quantum gravity" in the journal of cultural studies Social Text. He later revealed that it was a hoax; In this paper, I discuss the two main issues raised by the hoax: firstly, the abuse of scientific terminology by famous intellectuals such as Lacan, Kristeva or Irigaray, and other "postmodernist" thinkers; secondly, the epistemic relativism and its impact on the history and sociology of science.
Bricmont
J
J
Institut de Physique théorique et mathématique, UCL Chemin du Cyclotron 2, Louvain-la-neuve, Belgique. bricmont@fyma.ucl.ac.be
D008192:Deception; D006801:Humans; D019359:Knowledge; D010684:Philosophy; D012106:Research; D012586:Science / Q000145:classification / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D012961:Sociology; D009626:Terminology as Topic