Bulverism-Sokalism

The unified cognitive bias and meta-bias that combines bulverism and sokalism into a single dismissive framework, particularly used against fields labeled as "postmodernism" or "relativism." Bulverism-Sokalism assumes that an entire field is wrong because it's "postmodern" or "relativist," and that anyone who draws on that field does so because of intellectual corruption rather than genuine insight. The bias allows its holders to dismiss vast areas of scholarship without engagement, to explain away opposing views without addressing them, and to maintain their own worldview as obviously correct while everyone else is simply deluded. Bulverism-Sokalism is the epistemology of the intellectual bubble, where everything outside is fraud and everyone inside is duped.

Example: "He dismissed all criticism as 'postmodern relativism.' When she pointed to specific arguments, he didn't engage—he just labeled them postmodern and moved on. Bulverism-Sokalism had made him immune to challenge: any opposing view was both explained away (you've been corrupted) and dismissed (your field is invalid). He never had to think, only to label."

by Abzugal March 8, 2026