Impostures Intellectuelles (French Language Edition) [Paperback]

Alan Sokal (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: French

Product Details

• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: Odile Jacob; French edition (1997)
• Language: French
• ISBN-10: 2738105033
• ISBN-13: 978-2738105035
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,603,613 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb expose of appalling intellectual fraud, November 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Impostures Intellectuelles (French Language Edition) (Paperback)

Sokal and Bricmont are rightly disgusted with the pompous pretensions of certain grand theorists who freely invoke scientific concepts they know nothing about in order to appear brilliant and authoritative. The "Social Text affair" in the US provdided merely one glimpse of a fraudulent pseudo-intellectual sub-culture, and this book takes the next step in detailing certain wild abuses of scientific concepts.

Although expose is not a preferred academic mode of inquiry, and the authors will be much reviled by ignorant allies of their targets (such as Mr. Artese in a previous review comment), this book and the revealing hoax which inspired it are valuable responses to an intellectual sub-culture characterized by mental flatulence.

The authors are careful and modest (contra Brian Artese)in emphasizing that they analyze only samplings of a vast literature; this procedure is justifiable because they are not claiming to evaluate fully the wide range of writings by authors surveyed, only the casual abuse of scientific terminology.

While any of the authors discussed can indeed have much better ideas in other passages, elementary intellectual competence could not have produced the kind of gross errors found in the various objects of criticism. Sokal and Bricmont know that the grotesque misunderstandings (in selected passages) of their target authors do not imply anything about the remaining body of work -- except that an intelligent reader should be suspicious of anyone who can present such howlers as learned analysis.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Objectivite et brievete scientifique, October 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Impostures Intellectuelles (French Language Edition) (Paperback)

Loin de vouloir demolir l'edifice de la philosophie francaise de ces 50 dernieres annees, les auteurs nous montrent plutot les defaillances de la construction. Dans un style clair, net et succint -qui souvent passe pour un manque de justification- ils pointent les aberrations et abus de certaines oeuvres. Il peut paraitre qu'il y ait un manque de justifications, mais la ou c'est incomprehensible pour le scientifique, comment cela peut-il l'etre pour le non-initie?

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real gem - required reading for would-be "new scientists", September 14, 1998

By 

Dr. M. Mckergow (Cheltenham, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Impostures Intellectuelles (French Language Edition) (Paperback)

Sokal reveals the misuse of scientific terms by those who seek to clad their ephemeral thoughts in the cloak of respecatbility and authority. This book generates a considerable amount of heat from those it questions (see the review below), but in my view is a measured, well informed and researched set of findings. A crucial book for the late 1990s for anyone who likes to make up their own minds.