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COLLOQUIUM ANNOUNCEMENT 
 
"Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences: An Interdiscipinary 
Discussion, with guest Alan Sokal" will be held Friday, Nov. 8 from 
1:30-5:00 in the Hall of Languages, room 500 at Syracuse University. 
 
Sokal, a professor of physics at New York University, became the center 
of a national controversy this past summer after announcing that the 
article he had submitted to the cultural studies journal _Social Text_ 
was a hoax. The publication of "Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a 
Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity," Sokal claims, indicates 
a "decline in the standards of rigor in certain precints of the academic 
humanities." The editors of _Social Text_, in turn, questioned the 
professional and scholarly ethics behind such a "prank," and others have 
criticized Sokal's understanding of the philosophical issues that ground 
"postmodern" inquiry in the humanities and social sciences. 
 
Sponsored by the Department of English, the Department of Physics, and 
the Writing Program, this forum is not intended to continue the 
controversy but, instead, to provide an opportunity for members of the 
humanities, natural sciences and social sciences to begin a dialogue on 
changing methodologies within these disciplines. 
 
Joining Sokal for a panel discussion will be Linda Alcoff (Philosophy), 
Beverly Allen (Languages, Literatures & Linguistics), John Crowley 
(English), Larry Hardin (Philosophy), Richard Ratcliff (Sociology), 
Peter Saulson (Physics), and Charles Winquist (Religion). The forum will 
be moderated by Stewart Thau, Associate Dean in the College of Arts and 
Sciences; and closing remarks will be offered by James Comas (Writing 
Program). 
                       
For further information contact: 
Peter Saulson, [log in to unmask], (315)443-3901 or 
Beatrice Skordili, [log in to unmask], (315)476-7721 
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