As a contribution, I would report an old dialogue on exactly this issue,  
between Pareto and Pantaleoni.  
  
Pantaleoni in a paper (1898) presented his thesis that the history of  
doctrines must only contain the true doctrines, and no the history of  
errors - his was an approach to history as "history of the economic  
analysis". Pareto's thesis was instead different: "Every theory can be  
considered in two ways: 1st intrinsically, 2nd regarding those who  
created it and welcome it. Intrinsically, it is true that the history of  
false theories is worth little . With regard to those who have created  
or embraced a theory, history of errors is of great value, because it is  
the only way we can know about certain dispositions, certain  
characteristics of man."  
  
Luigino Bruni