Is theoretical diversity beneficial to scientific progress? One could be tempted to answer immediately yes, since theoretical diversity means the elaboration of alternative assumptions, whose related results can be confronted, and further validated or refuted. Theoretical diversity is thus generally considered as a basic condition for scientific progress. In the meantime, one could also advocate that the conflict between alternative theories can be so intense that even the object of study may be captured in radically different ways, leading to poor confrontation, validation and refutation processes. In that case, the fragmented view that results is not necessarily beneficial to scientific advances. A medium way of putting these arguments together, and trying to reconcile the two former opposite points of views, is to consider that, in a phase of emergence of a specific field of research, abundance in theoretical arguments, and even antagonism, is desirable; in a phase of maturity, however, coordination between various approaches is preferable.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
file. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by HAL in its series Post-Print with number
hal-00203554_v1.
Length: Date of creation: 2007 Date of revision: Publication status: Published, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 2007, 17, 4, 517-520 Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00203554_v1
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00203554/en/ Contact details of provider: Web page: http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (CCSD).