As a practicing scientist I highly recommend this book, particularly in the original French, where one experiences the nuanced verbal sword-play educated French gives the reader but that has become harder to appreciate in modern English. Louis XIV would have been proud to have these two "bel esprits" at Court. It's not only wonderful reading but an advanced course in how to think clearly, unambiguously and how to use technical terms, concepts, procedures and advanced mathematics with the demonstrable competence of experts with years of hands-on experience putting them to practical use.
The book systematically analyzes the verbatim statements of a large, representative sampling of leading social commentators pontificating "social nonsense" - the "impostures intellectuelles" which is closer to "intellectual posturings" - that are based on technical usage, concepts, procedures and mathematics in which our "impostures" are totally out of their depth. Once the misuses and abuses of physics are systematically expunged, what remains of content is pure gibberish. Social noise supported by nothing. All legitimate scientists need this book in their library to read and re-read in this era of "persuasion by gibberish" as opposed to demonstration. Sokal and Bricmont deserve recognition from all legitimate scientists for the enormous amount of time, patience and dignity, with which they delved into this dumpster of "intellectual posturings."
Unfortunately, regardless of the consistent finding of unabated gibberish across multiple authors, the field of social commentary will no doubt continue its tendency to produce further unabated gibberish. There is no direct evidence that they are capable of producing anything else. Already their social commentary supporters are disingenuously asserting that social commentary can use whatever they want from whatever field they want to whatever end they want and that they should not be bound by the usage habits of the fields from which they borrow willy-nilly. We cannot expect change because there is no evidence that it would be forthcoming. Rather, like clowns in the park who posture and make us laugh, Sokal and Bricmont's assessment tells us that we need to take social commentary, from the schools of social commentary represented, with no less side-splitting laughter.
Dr. A-F
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Top reviews from other countries
JSB
Manuel de "self-defense" scientifique
Reviewed in France 🇫🇷 on October 23, 2022francois delmotte
indispensable: il y a beaucoup de charlatans parmi les philosophes
Reviewed in France 🇫🇷 on September 16, 2018
