From: glevy-AT-acnet.pratt.edu
Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 23:18:56 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: SOKAL CONT. (APOLOGY)


SCOTT R MCLEMEE wrote:

>           but  the ethical question of whether  or  not  Sokal violated the
>           tacit norm of scholarly communication by his action is a real and
>           serious  question,  for  example.

The tacit assumption here is that academics and scholarly journals behave
normally in an ethical manner. While they may have ethical ideals, their
behavior is generally ruled by other aethical considerations. Had Sokal
just submitted a mainstream non-leftist science article, would it have
been accepted for publication by _Social Text_? I think not. It was only
because the editors believed that the article was written from a
perspective in favor with those of the editors that the article was
published.

More generally, academics fight with each other every day using
non-ethical weapons. Who is appointed and re-appointed? What are the
criteria used _in practice_? Whose "ethics" are being used in these
considerations?

>           Secondly,   there   is   the   question   of   whether   or   not
>           interdisciplinary work should, or even can,  be subjected to  the
>           same  means  of evaluation appropriate to  more traditional work.
>           Sokal  notes  that  a  persona competent in  physics  would  have
>           laughed  at  his manuscript.  Was  SOCIAL  TEXT required to  have
>           Sokal's manuscript evaluated  by  another physicist?


If the editors didn't have the background to understand the meaning of the
article, then -- damn right -- they should have had readers who were
familiar with the topic and the literature to review the article and make
suggestions and recommendations prior to publication.

Despite the above, I have mixed feelings about this affair. Why have the
"Marxists" identified pomo as the enemy? Why, in the course of this
discussion, do they take such special glee over the results? Who will use
this technique next? ... against whom?

Jerry



     --- from list marxism2-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---