Beyond the Hoax

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 confessed that the whole article was a hoax - a cunningly worded paper designed to expose and parody the style o...