**Alan Sokal** is a theoretical physicist best known for orchestrating the “Sokal Affair” in 1996—a provocative critique of postmodernist approaches in the humanities. At the time, he was a professor at New York University and also held a position at University College London. Sokal submitted a deliberately nonsensical article titled _Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity_ to the cultural studies journal _Social Text_. Laden with jargon and illogical assertions, the piece was crafted to mimic postmodernist [[Language]] while asserting absurd claims—such as the idea that gravity is a social construct. The editors of _Social Text_, unaware of the hoax, accepted and published the article in a special issue dedicated to the “Science Wars,” a debate over the nature of scientific knowledge. ![[alan sokal Critique of Postmodernism in Science.jpg]] **Why Alan Sokal is Significant:** • **The Sokal Affair as a Turning Point:** The hoax drew sharp attention to what Sokal and others saw as a crisis in academic rigour, particularly within certain strands of postmodern cultural studies. It revealed the extent to which an article lacking scientific coherence could gain acceptance if it aligned ideologically with the editorial stance of the journal. • **Critique of Postmodernism in Science:** The affair was a direct challenge to the postmodernist tendency to question the objectivity of scientific knowledge. Sokal argued that science, while socially embedded, is not merely a narrative or cultural construction. His hoax was aimed at exposing what he perceived as intellectual [[Relativism]]—a view often associated with postmodern thought—that undermines the authority and method of the sciences. • **Continued Influence:** The event sparked intense debate across disciplines, from the natural sciences to literary theory, and is frequently cited in discussions on academic standards, interdisciplinary communication, and the limits of relativism. Sokal later co-authored _[[Fashionable Nonsense]]_ (1998), a book critiquing the misuse of scientific concepts by certain postmodern theorists. • **Public Intellectual and Defender of Scientific Integrity:** Beyond academia, the Sokal Affair resonated with the public and media, becoming a symbol of the divide between the sciences and some strands of contemporary critical theory. Sokal has continued to advocate for intellectual clarity, [[Empirical]] standards, and the importance of distinguishing between sound scholarship and rhetorical performance. In sum, the Sokal Affair stands as a watershed moment in the so-called “Science Wars” of the 1990s, emblematic of the tensions between scientific realism and postmodern scepticism. It remains a powerful example of how the language of postmodernism, when unmoored from content or critique, can be manipulated to expose its own vulnerabilities. `Concepts:` #Science `Knowledge Base:`