In 1996, Alan Sokal, a Professor of Physics at New York University, wrote a paper for the cultural studies journal Social Text, entitled: Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a transformative hermeneutics of quantum gravity. It was reviewed, accepted, and published. Sokal immediately admitted that the whole article was a hoax - a cunningly worded paper designed to expose and parody the style of extreme postmodernist criticism of science. The story became front-page news across the world. Sokal has now written a book for OUP called Beyond the Hoax: Science, Philosophy and Culture, which publishes in the UK this week. In the below post, Sokal writes about taking evidence seriously, and the implications it has for public policy.
This blog originally appeared on The Guardian’s Comment is Free site.