[escepticos] mas de Sokal

[planetario@...>]

FOCUS REPORT: QUANTUM MECHANICS
A Summary Group from SCIENCE-WEEK
-------------------------------------------------
ON THE SOKAL HOAX AND PHILOSOPHICAL EXTRAPOLATIONS IN PHYSICS
In the last quarter of this century, many fields outside of
physical science are apparently in the throes of epistemological
crises that are seen as originating in similar crises in physics
during the first quarter of the century. *Complementarity,
uncertainty, relativity, observer interactions -- the perceived
philosophical implications of these ideas have been imported into
the humanities and social sciences where they have rocked
foundations and produced what many critics view as an
intellectual babble. In 1996, theoretical physicist Alan Sokal
concocted an article consisting mostly of the ideations of so-
called "*postmodern" cultural studies of science, the article
concerned with "a transformative hermeneutics of quantum gravity"
and purporting to be an application of theoretical physics to
affirm the thrust of postmodern cultural studies of science in
the humanities and social sciences. The article was accepted and
*published by the journal *Social Text*, and shortly afterward,
in the journal *Lingua Franca*, Sokal revealed that his article
was a complete hoax and designed as a parody of contemporary
postmodern thought. In the academic furor that followed, Sokal's
article was characterized as "an ingenious exposure of the
decline of intellectual standards in contemporary academia," and
"a brilliant parody of the postmodern nonsense rampant among the
cultural studies of science." ... ... Writing in a physics
journal, M. Beller now outlines an argument that theoretical
physicists both past and present have had much responsibility for
what appear to be the nonsensical applications of theoretical
physics to the humanities and social sciences. The author makes
the following points: 1) The philosophical pronouncements
(several of which are quoted at length by Beller) of theoretical
physicists *Niels Bohr, *Max Born, *Werner Heisenberg, *Wolfgang
Pauli, and *Pascual Jordan deserve some of the blame for the
excesses of the postmodern critique of science. 2) Like the
deconstructionist *Jacques Derrida, Bohr was notorious for the
obscurity of his writing. Yet physicists relate to the
obscurities of Derrida and Bohr in fundamentally different ways:
Derrida is treated with contempt and Bohr is treated with awe,
his obscurity attributed to "depth and subtlety". 3) The author
points out that in a widely used compendium of papers in
theoretical physics published in 1983, there is an often cited
reprinted paper by Bohr whose pages are out of order, and yet no
complaints are heard and the mistake, which occurs in both
hardcover and softcover editions, is apparently rarely noticed.
3) The author points out that Bohr intended his philosophy of
complementarity to be an overarching epistemological principle
applicable to physics, biology, psychology, and anthropology.
Pauli argued for application of the quantum concept of reality to
unify science, religion, Jungian archetypes, and extrasensory
perception. Born stated that quantum philosophy would help
humanity cope with the postwar era. Heisenberg expressed the hope
that the results of quantum physics would transform cultural life
by producing a renaissance of ideas. Jordan explored the "formal"
parallels between quantum physics and Freudian psychoanalysis. 4)
Beller points out that the philosophical pronouncements of Bohr
and other founders of quantum physics are not just an
anachronistic curiosity, since contemporary popular writings by
physicists and science writers continue to proclaim the victory
of Bohr's conception of reality, even though the Copenhagen
"orthodox" interpretation of quantum physics -- the abandonment
of causality and the ordinary conception of reality -- is not the
only possible interpretation of quantum physics, and ultimately
it might not even be the surviving one. 5) Beller concludes: "The
opponents of the postmodernist cultural studies of science
conclude confidently from the Sokal affair that 'the emperors
have no clothes.' But who, exactly, are all these naked emperors?
At whom should we be laughing?"
-----------
M. Beller (Hebrew University Jerusalem, IL): The Sokal hoax: at
whom are we laughing?
(Physics Today September 1998)
QY: Mara Beller, Hebrew University, Jerusalem IL.
-----------
Text Notes:
... ... *Complementarity: The idea that a fundamental particle is
neither a wave nor a particle, because these are complementary
modes of description (see below, Report #6).
... ... *postmodern: The term here refers to studies of how
contemporary concepts and methods are determined by historical or
ideological context. So, for example, one set of postmodern
questions concerning science involves the influences of Western
socio-political ideology on the structure and methods of Western
science. The general idea is the consideration of science as a
product of the culture from which it arises. But the term
"postmodern" has a loose usage, with one meaning in literature,
another in art, and a third in the social sciences.
... ... *published: Sokal's paper was published in *Social Text*
(Spring/Summer 1996, p.216), and then exposed immediately by
himself in *Lingua Franca* (May/June 1996, p.62).
... ... *Niels Bohr (1885-1962): Nobel Prize in Physics 1922. He
worked in the fields of atomic structure and nuclear fission, and
he proposed the doctrine of complementarity. As director of the
Institute of Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen from 1920 on, Bohr
was the head of what came to be called the Copenhagen School of
Quantum Mechanics, which produced what came to be called the
"Copenhagen orthodoxy" view of the implications of quantum
mechanics as applied in general to theoretical physics.
... ... *Max Born (1882-1970): Nobel Prize in Physics 1954. Did
fundamental work in quantum theory, particularly work linking the
wave function of the electron to electron distribution
probability. It was Born who apparently coined the term "quantum
mechanics". Born worked with Werner Heisenberg, one of his
students, in the development of the mathematical techniques of
matrix mechanics, an alternative to the Schroedinger wave 
equation for calculation of the position and momentum of the
electron in the atom. From Born: "I am now convinced that
theoretical physics is actual philosophy."
... ... *Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976): Nobel Prize in Physics
1932. Developed quantum theory and formulated the uncertainty
principle, which concerns matter, radiation, and their reaction,
and which places absolute limits on the achievable accuracy of
measurement of physical phenomena in the quantum domain.
... ... *Wolfgang Pauli (1900-1958): Nobel Prize in Physics 1945.
Originated the exclusion principle, which states that in a given
system no two fermions (electrons, protons, neutrons, or other
elementary particles of half-integral spin) can be characterized
by the same set of quantum numbers. He also predicted the
existence of neutrinos.
... ... *Pascual Jordan (1902- ): Worked with Born and Heisenberg
in the development of matrix mechanics. Also worked in the
relativistic quantum field theory of electromagnetism (quantum
electrodynamics). 
... ... *Jacques Derrida (1930- ): A philosopher whose work spans
literary criticism, psychoanalysis, linguistics, and philosophy,
with an emphasis on the primacy of written text, the
referentiality of language, and the objectivity of conceptual
structures. Founded the school of criticism known as
"deconstruction". 
-------------------
Summary & Notes by SCIENCE-WEEK <http://scienceweek.com> 25Sep98

-----------------------------------
planetario de pamplona
Sancho Ramirez, s/n
E-31008 Pamplona (Spain)
Web: http://pamplonetario.base.org
Email: planetario en cin.es
Phone: (34) (9)48-262628
Fax: (34) (9)48 261919