Alan Sokal

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Alan Sokal
Sokal Affair
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics, mathematics, philosophy of science
Institutions
Thesis An Alternate Constructive Approach to the φ4
3 Quantum Field Theory, and a Possible Destructive Approach to φ4
4  (1981)
Doctoral advisorArthur Wightman

Alan David Sokal (/ˈsoʊkəl/; born January 24, 1955) is an American professor of mathematics at University College London and professor emeritus of physics at New York University. He works in statistical mechanics and combinatorics. He is a critic of postmodernism, and caused the Sokal affair in 1996 when his deliberately nonsensical paper was published by Duke University Press's Social Text. He also co-authored a paper criticizing the critical positivity ratio concept in positive psychology.

Academic career

Sokal received his

Sandinistas
were heading the elected government.

Research interests

Sokal's research lies in

algorithms, such as Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms for problems in statistical physics. He also co-authored a book on quantum triviality.[1]

In 2013, Sokal co-authored a paper with Nicholas Brown and Harris Friedman, rejecting the

negative emotions, outside of which the individual will tend to have poorer life and occupational outcomes.[2] This concept of a critical positivity ratio was highly cited and popularised by psychologists such as Barbara Fredrickson. The trio's paper, published in American Psychologist, contended that the ratio was based on faulty mathematical reasoning and therefore invalid.[3]

Critiques of postmodernism

Sokal affair

Main article: Sokal affair

In 1996, Sokal was curious to see whether the then-non-peer-reviewed postmodern cultural studies journal Social Text (published by Duke University Press) would publish a submission which "flattered the editors' ideological preconceptions". Sokal submitted a grand-sounding but completely nonsensical paper titled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity."[4][5]

After holding the article back from earlier issues because of Sokal's refusal to consider revisions, the staff published it in the "Science Wars" issue as a relevant contribution.[6] Soon thereafter, Sokal then revealed that the article was a hoax in the journal Lingua Franca,[7] arguing that the left and social science would be better served by intellectual underpinnings based on reason. The affair was front-page news in The New York Times on May 18, 1996. Sokal responded to leftist and postmodernist criticism of the deception by asserting that he was himself a leftist, and that his motivation was to "defend the Left from a trendy segment of itself".

The affair, together with Paul R. Gross and Norman Levitt's 1994 book Higher Superstition, can be considered to be a part of the so-called science wars.

Sokal followed up in 1997 by co-authoring the book

strong program" of the sociology of science for denying the value of truth. The book had contrasted reviews, with some lauding the effort,[8] and some more reserved.[9][10]

In 2008, Sokal revisited the Sokal affair and its implications in Beyond the Hoax.

Other critiques

In 2024, Sokal co-authored an op-ed in The Boston Globe with evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins criticizing the use of the terminology "sex assigned at birth" instead of "sex" by the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sokal and Dawkins wrote that sex is an "objective biological reality" that "is determined at conception and is then observed at birth," rather than assigned by a medical professional. Calling this "social constructionism gone amok," Sokal and Dawkins argued that "distort[ing] the scientific facts in the service of a social cause" risks undermining trust in medical institutions.[11]

References

  1. ^ R. Fernandez, J.
    Froehlich
    , A. D. Sokal, "Random Walks, Critical Phenomena, and Triviality in Quantum Field Theory". Springer (1992)
    ISBN 0-387-54358-9
  2. doi:10.1016/s0895-7177(99)00189-2
    .
  3. S2CID 644769
    .
  4. JSTOR 466856
    .
  5. ^ Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity
  6. ^ Robbins, Bruce and Ross, Andrew. http://physics.nyu.edu/sokal/SocialText_reply_LF.pdf Editorial Response to the hoax, explaining Social Text's decision to publish
  7. ^ Sokal A. (1996). "A Physicist Experiments with Cultural Studies" (PDF). Lingua Franca: 62–64.
  8. S2CID 40887987
    .
  9. ^ Stephen Hilgartner (Autumn 1997). "The Sokal Affair in Context". Science, Technology, & Human Values. 22 (4): 506–522.
    S2CID 145740247
    .
  10. ^ William M. Epstein (1990). "Confirmational response bias among social work journals".
    S2CID 140863997
    .
  11. ^ Sokal, Alan; Dawkins, Richard (April 8, 2024). "Sex and gender: The medical establishment's reluctance to speak honestly about biological reality". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on April 8, 2024. Retrieved April 8, 2024.

External links

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