Photo: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America / CC BY-SA 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
James A. Lindsay is a figure I find hard to file away, which is precisely why he interests me. A mathematician and physicist by training, he reinvented himself as a cultural critic, most notoriously through the 2017-18 "grievance studies affair," submitting hoax papers to test academic rigor. There is a provocateur's mischief in that, but also a real argument about scholarly standards underneath. His book Cynical Theories remains genuinely polarizing. I do not endorse all of his conclusions, yet I respect that he chose to enter the fray himself rather than snipe from safety. Intellectual risk-taking, even when contentious, earns my attention.
Overview
James Stephen Lindsay (born June 8, 1979), known professionally as James A. Lindsay, or Conceptual James, is an American author and mathematician. In 2017 and 2018 he, Peter Boghossian, and Helen Pluckrose submitted hoax articles to academic journals in order to test scholarship and rigor in several academic fields, an act which became known as the grievance studies affair.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- James A. Lindsay
- Name (Japanese)
- ジェームズ・A・リンゼイ
- Reading
- じぇーむず・A・りんぜい
- Born
- June 8, 1979 (age 47)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Gemini / Goat
- Origin
- Ogdensburg, New York, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- mathematician / critic / non-fiction writer / writer / physicist
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Maryville High School
- University
- University of Tennessee
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | Cynical Theories | — |
6. Links
Mathematician — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.