„AFACEREA SOKAL” ȘI CONSTRUCTIVISMUL SOCIAL

Abstract

Alain Sokal published in the year 1996 the paper “Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Mechanics” through which he aimed to test the partisan sensitivity and conformist superficiality of the editors towards a text that flattered their ideological prejudices. In fact, the study is a parody of post-modern thought disguised as the promise of revealing the philosophical and political implications of twentieth-century physics. The main targets are: 1, Misuse of scientific and mathematical concepts by philosophers, psychologists and writers, especially from the French cultural space, such as Jacques Lacan, Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray, Gilles Deleuze, Jean Baudrillard; 2. The relativistic tendencies in the philosophy of science exemplified by Thomas S. Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend, the “Hard Program” of David Bloor and Barry Barnes, the social constructivism proposed by Bruno Latour. My goal in this paper is to briefly analyze to what extent Sokal’s critical arguments are valid for the case of social constructivism elaborated by Bruno Latour. and to outline the critical debate produced by the actors network theory.