1/28/2004 slide 49
•Sokal: “The fundamental silliness of my
article lies, however, not in its numerous solecisms but in the dubiousness of its central
thesis and of the
“reasoning” adduced to support it. Basically, I claim that quantum
gravity -- the
still-speculative theory of space and time on scales of a millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a
billionth of a centimeter -- has profound politicalimplications (which, of course, are
“progressive”). In support of this improbable proposition, I proceed as follows: First, I quote some controversial philosophical
pronouncements of Heisenberg
and Bohr, and assert (without argument) that quantum physics is profoundly consonant with
``postmodernist epistemology.'' Next, I assemble a pastiche -- Derrida and general
relativity, Lacan and
topology, Irigaray and quantum gravity -- held together by vague rhetoric about “nonlinearity”,
“flux” and “interconnectedness.” Finally, I jump (again without argument) to the assertion
that “postmodern science” has abolished the concept of objective
reality. Nowhere in all of this is there anything resembling a logical sequence
of thought; one finds
only citations of authority, plays on words, strained analogies, and bald assertions.” http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/lingua_franca_v4/lingua_franca_v4.html