Intellectual Impostor = (?)

A "(?)" in a biography entry suggests that you are in the presence of an intellectual impostor. The term was introduced into common parlance by the book Intellectual Impostures by Alan Sokal & Jean Bricmont. (An imposture is a fraudulent deception, the word is French but has been adopted as English.)

A sign of an intellectual impostor is that they write something like: "its essence lies in its always having its being to be, and having it as its own,"( Martin Heidegger, Being and Time). You can't argue against such gnomic pronouncements, the best response is a simple (?).

There is so much to read, and so little time, that we need to avoid intellectual impostors. If you want less confusion, and more enlightenment, then you need to avoid vague and superficial writers.

It is not just UFO cranks and astrologers who are the problem. Many intellectual impostors are to be found occupying prestigious university chairs, and inflated reputations. This can make it difficult to know who to avoid.

When starting to explore the ideas of a famous intellectual do not start with his works. Start with a good encyclopedia and see if it provides a coherent summary of his or her ideas. Look, especially, for warning signs that the encyclopedia writer does not understand what he is writing about. This will be flagged by such phrases as: "if I understand him correctly", "his writings are notoriously obscure", "his influence of modern thought is not open to doubt". The first and last of these phrases can be translated:"I don't understand a word he's saying", and "don't believe a word he's saying".