Intellectual and political hygiene: The “Sokal Affair”
Titel:
Intellectual and political hygiene: The “Sokal Affair”
Auteur:
Slack, Jennifer Daryl Semati, M. Mehdi
Verschenen in:
Critical studies in media communication
Paginering:
Jaargang 14 (1997) nr. 3 pagina's 201-227
Jaar:
1997-09
Inhoud:
Physicist Alan Sokal perpetrated a “hoax” on the journal, Social Text, by submitting a fraudulent article and criticizing the journal for publishing it. Sokal's hoax is said to demonstrate the corruption of the humanities. Cultural studies, multiculturalism, science studies, feminism, and “new social movements” have all come under attack. Analysis of coverage of this affair reveals evidence of a dis-ease with contemporary theory in the humanities that challenges allegiances to an oversimplified conception of the relationship between reality and representation. The Sokal Affair is overdetermined by four currents: anti-liberalism, anti-intellectualism, debates among the left about what constitutes a legitimate left, and the often-perceived incompatibility of the scientific world view with humanistic views of the world. The totalitarian response revealed in this incident-similar inform to the earlier de Man scandal-seeks to cleanse the culture of this dis-ease.
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