================= HES POSTING ================= 
 
E. Roy Weintraub wrote: 
>  
> SSCI have spawned interesting research literatures. The rhetoric of  
> science itself is intertwined with such questions of legitimizing  
> some, but not other, modes of argumentation. 
 
With Roy's comment above and the discussion of Joan Robinson's failure to 
cite Marx, I am reminded of a paper I wrote as a graduate student for 
Eric Hobsbawm.  The paper was actually an analysis of Hobsbawm's writing 
style (does the word foolhardy immediately come to your mind?).  Anyway, 
I focused on an early paper of Hobsbawm's, one where he set out to 
historically "prove" a Marxian thesis.  However, Hobsbawm only cites Marx 
twice--and very superficially--and I pointed out that Hobsbawm did not 
resort to the use of "commemoratio" in this particular paper.  In his 
notes on my paper, he wrote that "Yes, that was quite deliberate as a 
strategy.  But it also indicated that I didn't want to argue by the 
appeal to canonical authority."  So, failure to cite does not necessarily 
represent moral failure, but involves a variety of other 
factors--historical, rhetorical, sociological, et al. 
 
Jonathon E. Mote 
 
============ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ============ 
For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]