A step backwards in philosophy’s search for truth:
[Bernard-Henri Lévy's latest book,] De la guerre en philosophie (On War in Philosophy), has been greeted with the customary rapture, and its ubiquitous author has been a fixture on television and in the press all week.
In framing his case, Lévy—BHL to the Parisian cognoscenti—drew on the writings of the little-known 20th century thinker Jean-Baptiste Botul—author of The Sex Life of Immanuel Kant, and a man Lévy has cited in lectures.
The problem? Botul never existed. He was invented by a journalist from the satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné 10 years ago as an elaborate joke. And since the hoax was revealed, BHL has become a laughing stock.
The entire article, from The Irish Times, is worth reading. [Via Matt Yglesias.]
Tags: Bernard-Henri Lévy, Immanuel Kant, philosophy
Printer-Friendly Version
[view academic citations]
[hide academic citations]
AMA citation:
Gelman C. Bernard-Henri Lévy cites fake philosopher. The Immanent Frame. 2010. Available at: http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2010/02/11/bernard-henri-levy-cites-fake-philosopher/. Accessed May 23, 2013.
APA citation:
Gelman, Charles. (2010). Bernard-Henri Lévy cites fake philosopher. Retrieved May 23, 2013, from The Immanent Frame Web site: http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2010/02/11/bernard-henri-levy-cites-fake-philosopher/
Chicago citation:
Gelman, Charles. 2010. Bernard-Henri Lévy cites fake philosopher. The Immanent Frame. http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2010/02/11/bernard-henri-levy-cites-fake-philosopher/ (accessed May 23, 2013).
Harvard citation:
Gelman, C 2010, Bernard-Henri Lévy cites fake philosopher, The Immanent Frame. Retrieved May 23, 2013, from <http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2010/02/11/bernard-henri-levy-cites-fake-philosopher/>
MLA citation:
Gelman, Charles. "Bernard-Henri Lévy cites fake philosopher." 11 Feb. 2010. The Immanent Frame. Accessed 23 May. 2013. <http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/2010/02/11/bernard-henri-levy-cites-fake-philosopher/>
This entry was posted
on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 8:31 am and is filed under here & there.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
This reminds me of the so-called “Sokal Affair,” in which NYU physicist Alan Sokal got a satirical article published (as if serious) in the journal Social Text. He then used it as an example of the vacuousness of academic discourse in the humanities.