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Article: The questionable logic of "mistakes" in the dynamics of knowledge growth in the social sciences.(Errors in Social Sciences)
- Article from:
- Social Research
- Article date:
- March 22, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 New School for Social Research. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ON RECEIVING AN INVITATION TO CONTRIBUTE TO THIS SPECIAL ISSUE on errors in science, I immediately responded to the editors that I did not wish to do so because it was a big mistake to think that the logic of "big mistakes" applies to the history and dynamics of the behavioral and social sciences." I gave them a few reasons why I thought that my reasoning was correct. The editors promptly came back to me and said what a great contribution it would be if I developed a case for my point of view. The editors turned out to be cleverer than I, for in reflecting on their revised request, I came to believe that something useful could be said. And, as is frequently true, I ended ...