Beyond the Hoax: Science, Philosophy and Culture

(Oxford)

In this essay collection, the author revisits a fake scholarly paper — a parody of postmodern research and an attack on relativism — that he submitted to an academic journal, which published it in 1996. Sokal argues that the issue he raised — postmodernists’ disregard for evidence — remains pressing, particularly among pseudoscientists and religions, which, he claims, promote as “truth” ideas that lack factual evidence. Sokal is a physics professor at New York University.