Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Children of Controversy

I am working on a paper that suddenly came into focus over the weekend. There is a debate underway on the invisible-hand metaphor with a distinguished colleague who follows the modern economists’ perception of the significance of the metaphor. I am invited to respond to his paper for a refereed journal and I have been doing just that since Sunday.

Unfortunately, my computer crashed last night wiping out what I had written since Sunday – about 2,500 words – and I have spent most of today rewriting the text and recasting the bibliography. It’s a pain, made worse by the deadline (7 October).

The paper I am commenting upon is well written and strongly grounded. I feel like Lord Nelson felt at the Battle of Copenhagen, 1801. He wrote: ‘The Danish defences look formidable to children of war. I think I can better them.’ And he did.

In debate – a most useful exercise in friendly persuasion – the situation is often similar, to children of controversy. If you want hostile debate, take up politics.

Hence, my attention to Lost Legacy may have suffered since Sunday, though I hope not over the next few days.

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