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News

News: Summer/Autumn 1998

London debates • the Pope pronounces • New York certifies • the £2000 Encyclopaedia • Lyotard Dies • Hoerster Gagged • Philosophy For All

The Great Debate

In July, Londoners were treated to a great debate between proponents of the continental approach to philosophy and their Anglo-Saxon opponents. Three debates were held to mark the launch of Alan Sokal’s new book Intellectual Impostures. Each was packed to the gills and the third talk, at the ICA, needed an extra room with a video link-up to allow all those turning up to participate.

The first and third meetings dealt mainly with Sokal’s thesis that Continental philosophy has underestimated the reliability of science and the knowledge which it has discovered. These discussions centred on relativism, its consequences and its limitations.

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