February 28, 1997: Friday evening registration and keynote address
March 1, 1997: Meeting
The "science wars" between scientists, their defenders and their critics
have recently generated much heat but little light. This meeting is
intended to explore some of the issues surrounding science and its
critics in a non-confrontational, interdisciplinary atmosphere. We would
like to construct a program of short talks and longer panel discussions.
We are seeking balanced representation from a wide variety of
disciplines and speakers who are willing to use language that is widely
accessible.
Possible topics for exploration:
The scientific method: How is it really practiced? Does it yield "the
truth"?
Science and religion: Are they ever incompatible?
Science and postmodernism: If it is postmodern, can it be science?
Science and politics: Is science a tool for white males to retain power?
Science and education: Are we a nation of scientific illiterates?
Does it matter?
Your topic: Are there other related topics we should explore?
Our keynote speaker will be Professor Alan D. Sokal, New York
University, who sparked a major battle in the "science wars"; last
summer with his publication of "Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of
Quantum Gravity"; in the cultural studies journal "Social Text".
If these issues interest you, please come and take part in the dialogue.
For registration information visit our Web site:
http://kuhep4.phsx.ukans.edu/~baringer/scicrit.html
or contact:
John Pattinson,
The University of Kansas,
Division of Continuing Education, Academic and Professional Programs,
Continuing Education Building,
Lawrence, Kansas 66045-2607
(913) 864-3284.
Registration and requests for speaking time are due by December 13,
1996. To help cover our costs it is necessary to charge a registration
fee of $25 for faculty and $10 for students.
______________________________________________________________________________
`Open the pod bay doors, Hal.'
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Adrian L. Melott melott@kusmos.phsx.ukans.edu
Department of Physics and Astronomy phone: 913-864-3037
University of Kansas fax: 913-864-5262
Lawrence Kansas 66045
U.S.A. http://kusmos.phsx.ukans.edu/~melott/Melott.html
From:
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu:80/Latest/sokal
Contact: Geoffrey Mock
(919) 681-4514
geoff@dukenews.duke.edu
SOCIAL TEXT HOAX AUTHOR TO SPEAK AT DUKE
DURHAM -- Alan Sokal, the New York University physicist who wrote the
"Science Wars" hoax article in the journal Social Text, will discuss
the controversy in a lecture at Duke University on Friday, Nov. 22.
Sokal's topic is "What the Social Text Affair Does and Does Not
Prove." His talk, which will be at 4 p.m. in 114 Math-Physics
Building, is sponsored by the Triangle Workshop in the History of
Science, Medicine and Technology. The workshop is a joint venture of
faculty members from Duke, the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill and N.C. State University.
This past spring, Sokal contributed an article to Social Text, which
is published by Duke University Press, as part of the journal's
"Science Wars" issue. The article, permeated with the language of
postmodernism, claimed that reality was a social construct and denied
science's ability to find any objective truth.
In an article in the May Lingua Franca, Sokal revealed that his
article was a parody and criticized the editors of Social Text for
their sloppy standards in particular and the study of science by
cultural theorists in general. The editors' defense in the controversy
made its way into Newsweek, The New York Times and other national
media.
Seymour Mauskopf, professor of history at Duke and one of the workshop
organizers, said the intent of inviting Sokal to Duke was to further
the discussion about the validity of the scientific perspective, the
nature of objective truth, academic ethics and other issues related to
the controversy.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
###
Submitted by: dwliao@umich.edu (Dar-weia Liao)
Date submitted: Mon, 18 Nov 1996 13:11:27 -0500
Subject: Events
Title: Sokal's "Hoax" and the Debate Over Reason, Truth and Objectivity
Date: 11/18/96
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Rackham Auditorium
Speaker:
organized by the University's Program for the Study of Complex Systems.