1. Alan D. Sokal, “Transgressing the Boundaries-Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity,”Social Text (Spring/Summer 1996): 219–52. Sokal revealed that this article was a hoax designed to parody science studies in his “A Physicist Experiments with Cultural Studies,”Lingua Franca (May/June, 1996): 62–64.
2. As an example of extreme views, I would cite Bruno Latour’s confused critique of relativity in which he fails to understand whatframe of reference means in physics; I also disagree with his statement in another place: “Since the settlement of a controversy is the cause of Nature’s representation, not the consequence, we cannever (my emphasis-LRG) use the outcome-Nature-to explain how and why a controversy has been settled.” While I differ with Latour’s views, I believe that a more intelligent application of social constructivism can be fruitful, and I attempt to achieve such an application in this article, showing how even equations can be affected by social context. See Bruno Latour, “A Relativistic Account of Einstein’s Relativity,” inSocial Studies of Science 18(1989), pp. 3–44; hisScience in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers Through Society, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, p. 99; also, see Noretta Koertge (ed.),A House Built on Sand: Exposing Postmodernist Myths about Science, Oxford University Press, New York-Oxford, 1998, especially the essays by Alan Sokal and Philip Kitcher.
3. Loren R. Graham,What Have We Learned About Science and Technology from the Russian Experience?, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1998.
4. lbid., pp. 28–31.
5. E-mail message from Alan Sokal to Loren Graham, November 17, 1998.