The Nature and Role of Originality in Scientific Progress
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9725217 |
|---|---|
| Authors | George J Stigler (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1955 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 88 |
| Pages | 293 |
| Publication date | 1955-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Economica (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0013-0427 • E-ISSN: 1468-0335 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2551184 |
| OpenAlex | W2325405442 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 15 |
We set great store on originality in economics. Cournot was a great economist because he was original; Mill was not a great economistonly a great expositor-because he was not original. At times the attitude is carried to such extremes that we admire a man for his original and ingenious absurdities: he has a seminal mind. Even when we stop short of this curious perversity, we like to associate each eminent economist with the doctrine he originated. Jevons-marginal utility; Walras-general equilibrium; Marshall-quasi-rents, long and short run; Wicksteed-Euler's theorem; Pigou-private and social marginal products; Thunen-/ap; and so it goes on. If we cannot associate a catchword with the man, we are inclined to deny him originality. Originality is decidedly a fine virtue, and I have no desire to praise the mind that devotes itself exclusively to an almost incestuous admiration of earlier wisdom. But originality is a more complicated virtue than most discussion seems to recognize, and its role in the progress of science is not easy to state or to assess. It is to these matters that this essay is devoted
Admiration · Art · Classical economics · Economics · Epistemology · Literature · Mathematical economics · Neoclassical economics · Originality · Positive economics · Praise · Social science · Sociology · Value (mathematics) · Virtue · Economic Theory and Institutions · Mathematics · Philosophy
Originalidade e ineditismo como requisitos de submissão aos periódicos científicos em Ciência da Informação │ Original and unpublished
Concepts of Originality in the Natural Science, Medical, and Engineering Disciplines
Demand-revealing processes and accounting standard-setting
George J. Stigler and the Industrial Organization of Economic Thought
Richard Cantillon and the Discovery of Opportunity Cost
The Emergence of the Theory of the Firm. From Adam Smith to Alfred Marshall
On Thinking About George Stigler
Inventing paradigms, monopoly, methodology, and mythology at ‘Chicago’
Originalidade e ineditismo como requisitos de submissão aos periódicos científicos em Ciência da Informação │ Original and unpublished
How Broad a Meaning Can “Capital” Acquire? Towards the Rigorous Comprehension of Capital
Economic empiricism in the writing of early railway engineers
The King-Davenant 'Law' in Classical Economics
On the role of the history of economic analysis
Has Economics Progressed? Rectilinear, Historicist, Universalist, and Evolutionary Historiographies
Retrospectives
| Unique citing works | 15 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,27 |
| Citation span | 1971 - 2020 (50) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |