Behind the Hoax: Science, Philosophy, and Culture

Abstract

In 1996, physicist Alan Sokal managed to get his parody of the postmodernist point of view published in a (self-appointed) serous journal as if it were the real thing. It was called "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity," and the editors of Social Text took it seriously, and published it.This volume starts with an annotated version of that article, and the annotations are often hilarious.This section alone is worth the price of the book, even if you happen to have read the original unannotated version. It is followed by a graceful "After word" in which Sokal makes many of his points once again.

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