Deconstructing Postmodernism

I just finished reading Fashionable Nonsense -- Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science, by Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont. Recommended by Lena, on Amy Alkon's ever so opinionated blog.

I must admit, I was a little apprehensive about physicists destructuring guys like Lacan, Foucault, Deleuze or Derrida -- masturbateurs intellectuels, as some call them.

Surprise! The book was a breeze to read. Unexpectedly intelligible, considering the subject. It confirmed my questioning the postmodernists' dogma -- and why they made me so miserable when I was at BAC stage. I definitely recommend it. The pitch:

In 1996, physicist Alan Sokal published an essay in Social Test touting the deep similarities between quantum gravitational theory and postmodern thinking. Soon thereafter, the essay was revealed as a brilliant parody, a catalogue of nonsense written in erudite but impenetrable lingo. The event sparked a furious debate in academic cricles and across many disciplines -- psychology, sociology, feminist studies, history, literature, mathematics, and the hard sciences -- about the use and abuse of scientific theories in fields ourside the scope of science.

Now Sokal and fellow physicist Jean Bricmont expand from where the hoax left off. In a witty and closely reasoned argument, the authors document the misuse of scientific concepts in the writings of some of the most fashionable contemporary icons. From Jacques Lacan and Julia Kristeva to Luce Irigaray and Jean Baudrillard, the authors demonstrate the errors made by some postmodernists in their attempts to use science to illustrate and support their arguments. More generally, Sokal and Bricmont challenge the notion that scientific theories are mere "narratives" or social constructions.

At once provocative and mesaured, Fashionable Nonsense explores the crucial question of what science is and is not, and suggests both the abilities and the limits of science to describe the conditions of existence.

I tried to entice my S.O. to read the book, but life's priorities took over. If you don't have time to read it but are interested in the subject, just get it at the LAPL, and read the Intro & Epilogue -- you'll get the essence.

But if you're a forcené, I also recommend French Theory by François Cusset. An essay on how the wave of postmodernist philosophers got imported on American campuses, and defined local intellectual life [in French only so far]. Fascinating. And refreshing, if only because thanks to American translation of French esoteric concepts, I can understand the B.S. -- at last.

This reminds me of a brainless, snob contact of mine, who told me when we visited the Musée Rodin in Paris, looking at Rodin's Thinker: "How can you think in that position?! It's too uncomfortable. Try to mimic him, for god's sake! You tweek your body, or you think. But you can't do both." She's got a point...

photo Google Images