postmodernism
Multi-Culturalism or World Culture? On a "Left"-Wing Response to Contemporary Social Breakdown
Loren Goldner on multiculturalism, post-modern cultural theory, and the social and economic conditions of the late 20th century.
Note (August 2000): The following article was written in 1991, and published, in a somewhat reduced form, in Against the Current [i]in 1993.
Rationality & Science - Noam Chomsky
Chomsky on rationality & science. This essay formed part of a Z-Papers special issue on the topic in 1995.
THIS DISCUSSION involves people with a large range of shared aspirations and commitments; in some cases at least, friends who have worked and struggled together for many years. I hope, then, that I can be quite frank. And personal, since to be honest, I don't see much of independent substance to discuss.
Sokal Hoax - 'Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity' by Alan Sokal
In 1996, physicist Alan Sokal performed an experiment after becoming frustrated with what he saw as the abuses of science and mathematics by writers and academics under the umbrella of 'cultural studies/poststructuralism/postmodernism. Here is the original hoax text, laced with nonsense phrases, meaningless mathematics, and topped with flattering citations of the editors of the journal to which it was submitted, Social Text. When the article was accepted and published, Sokal revealed his deliberate hoax, and threw petrol on the flames of the already burning 'Science Wars'.
Note: This article was published in Social Text #46/47, pp. 217-252 (spring/summer 1996).
Sokal Hoax - 'A Physicist Experiments With Cultural Studies' by Alan Sokal
Physicist Alan Sokal reveals the motivations behind his infamous 'Sokal hoax' article - an experiment after becoming frustrated with what he saw as the abuses of science and mathematics by writers and academics under the umbrella of 'cultural studies/poststructuralism/postmodernism'.
The displacement of the idea that facts and evidence matter by the idea that everything boils down to subjective interests and perspectives is -- second only to American political campaigns -- the most prominent and pernicious manifestation of anti-intellectualism in our time.
-- Larry Laudan, Science and Relativism (1990)
Noam Chomsky on Postmodernism
Noam Chomsky reveals some of his frustrations with postmodernism and the role of 'intellectuals' in engaging with the public.
I've returned from travel-speaking, where I spend most of my life, and found a collection of messages extending the discussion about "theory" and "philosophy," a debate that I find rather curious. A few reactions -- though I concede, from the start, that I may simply not understand what is going on.
