Alan David Sokal(/ˈsoʊkəl/SOH-kəl;born January 24, 1955) is an American professor ofmathematicsatUniversity College Londonand professor emeritus ofphysicsatNew York University.He works withstatistical mechanicsandcombinatorics.
Alan Sokal | |
|---|---|
 Sokal in 2011 | |
| Born | January 24, 1955 |
| Education | |
| Known for | Sokal Affair |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics,mathematics,philosophy of science |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | An Alternate Constructive Approach to the φ4 3Quantum Field Theory, and a Possible Destructive Approach to φ4 4(1981) |
| Doctoral advisor | Arthur Wightman |
Sokal is a critic ofpostmodernism,and caused theSokal affairin 1996 when his deliberately nonsensical paper was published byDuke University Press'sSocial Text.He also co-authored a paper criticizing thecritical positivity ratioconcept inpositive psychology.
Academic career
editSokal received hisBachelor of Artsdegree fromHarvard Collegein 1976 and hisPhDfromPrinceton Universityin 1981. He was advised by the physicistArthur Wightman.During the summers of 1986, 1987, and 1988, Sokal taughtmathematicsat theNational Autonomous University of Nicaragua,when theSandinistascontrolled the elected government.
Research interests
editSokal's research involvesmathematical physicsand combinatorics. In particular, he studies the interplay between these topics based on questions concerning statistical mechanics andquantum field theory.This includes work on thechromatic polynomialand theTutte polynomial,which appear both inalgebraic graph theoryand in the study ofphase transitionsin statistical mechanics. His interests includecomputational physicsandalgorithms,such asMarkov chain Monte Carloalgorithms for problems in statistical physics. He also co-authored a book onquantum triviality.[1]
In 2013, Sokal co-authored a paper with Nicholas Brown and Harris Friedman, rejecting theLosada Line,a concept popular inpositive psychology.Named after its proposer,Marcial Losada,it refers to a critical range for an individual's ratio of positive tonegative emotions,outside of which the individual will tend to have poorer life and occupational outcomes.[2]This concept of a critical positivity ratio was much cited and popularised by psychologists such asBarbara Fredrickson.The trio's paper, published inAmerican Psychologist,contended that the ratio was based on faulty mathematical reasoning and therefore invalid.[3]
Critiques of postmodernism
editSokal affair
editIn 1996, Sokal was curious whether the then-non-peer-reviewedpostmoderncultural studiesjournalSocial Text(published byDuke University Press) would publish a submission which "flattered the editors' ideological preconceptions". Sokal submitted a grand-sounding but completely nonsensical paper titled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a TransformativeHermeneuticsof Quantum Gravity. "[4][5]
After holding the article back from earlier issues because of Sokal's refusal to consider revisions, the staff published it in the "Science Wars" issue as a relevant contribution.[6]Soon thereafter, Sokal then revealed that the article was ahoaxin the journalLingua Franca,[7]arguing thatleftistsandsocial sciencewould be better served by intellectual underpinnings based onreason.The affair was front-page news inThe New York Timeson May 18, 1996. Sokal responded to leftist and postmodernist criticism of the deception by asserting that he was himself a leftist, and that his motivation was to "defend the Left from a trendy segment of itself".
The affair, together withPaul R. GrossandNorman Levitt's 1994 bookHigher Superstition,can be considered to be a part of the so-calledscience wars.
Sokal followed up in 1997 by co-authoring the bookImpostures Intellectuelleswith physicist and philosopher of scienceJean Bricmont(published in English, a year later, asFashionable Nonsense). The book accuses some social sciences academics of using scientific and mathematical terms incorrectly and criticizes proponents of the "strong program"of thesociology of sciencefor denying the value of truth. The book had contrasted reviews, with some lauding the effort,[8]and some more reserved.[9][10]
In 2008, Sokal reviewed the Sokal affair and its implications in the bookBeyond the Hoax.
Other critiques
editIn 2024, Sokal co-authored an opinion-editorial article in the newspaperThe Boston Globewith evolutionary biologistRichard Dawkinscriticizing the use of the terminology "sex assigned at birth" instead of "sex" by theAmerican Medical Association,theAmerican Psychological Association,theAmerican Academy of Pediatrics,and theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.Sokal and Dawkins argued thatsexis an "objective biological reality" that "is determined at conception and is thenobservedat birth, "rather thanassignedby a medical professional. Terming this "social constructionismgone amok, "Sokal and Dawkins argued further that" distort[ing] the scientific facts in the service of a social cause "risks undermining trust in medical institutions.[11]Sokal repeated these criticisms in an editorial for the magazineThe Criticdiscussing the more generalpoliticization of science,especially biology and medicine.[12]
References
edit- ^Fernandez, R.;Froehlich, J.;Sokal, A. D. (1992).Random Walks, Critical Phenomena, and Triviality in Quantum Field Theory.Springer.ISBN0-387-54358-9.
- ^Losada M (1999)."The complex dynamics of high performance teams".Mathematical and Computer Modelling.30(9–10):179–192.doi:10.1016/s0895-7177(99)00189-2.
- ^Brown, N. J. L.; Sokal, A. D.; Friedman, H. L. (2013). "The Complex Dynamics of Wishful Thinking: The Critical Positivity Ratio".American Psychologist.68(9):801–813.arXiv:1307.7006.doi:10.1037/a0032850.PMID23855896.S2CID644769.
- ^Sokal, A. (1996). "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity".Social Text.46/47 (46/47):217–252.doi:10.2307/466856.JSTOR466856.
- ^Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity
- ^Robbins, Bruce and Ross, Andrew.http://physics.nyu.edu/sokal/SocialText_reply_LF.pdfEditorial Response to the hoax, explaining Social Text's decision to publish
- ^Sokal, A. (1996)."A Physicist Experiments with Cultural Studies"(PDF).Lingua Franca:62–64.
- ^Dawkins, Richard (July 1998)."Postmodernism disrobed".Nature.394(6689):141–143.Bibcode:1998Natur.394..141D.doi:10.1038/28089.S2CID40887987.
- ^ Hilgartner, Stephen (Autumn 1997). "The Sokal Affair in Context".Science, Technology, & Human Values.22(4):506–522.doi:10.1177/016224399702200404.S2CID145740247.
- ^ Epstein, William M. (1990). "Confirmational response bias among social work journals".Science, Technology, & Human Values.15(1):9–38.doi:10.1177/016224399001500102.S2CID140863997.
- ^Sokal, Alan; Dawkins, Richard (April 8, 2024)."Sex and gender: The medical establishment's reluctance to speak honestly about biological reality".The Boston Globe.Archivedfrom the original on April 8, 2024.RetrievedApril 8,2024.
- ^Sokal, Alan (May 14, 2024)."Woke invades the sciences".The Critic.Archivedfrom the original on May 24, 2024.RetrievedMay 26,2024.
External links
edit
- Publicationsat the Academic Genealogy Wiki
- University College London
- "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity"
- Pseudoscience and Postmodernism: Antagonists or Fellow-Travelers?in:Archaeological Fantasies: How Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and Misleads the Public,ed. Fagan (2004).
- Alan Sokal’s collection of articles related to the Social Text Affair
- An interview with Alan Sokal onThe Marketplace of Ideas