On the shoulders of giants
a Shandean postscript
by Robert King Merton · 1965
Popularity 6
With playfulness and a large dose of wit, Robert Merton traces the origin of Newton's aphorism, "If I have seen farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Using as a model the discursive and digressive style of Sterne's Tristram Shandy , Merton presents a whimsical yet scholarly work which deals with the questions of creativity, tradition, plagiarism, the transmission of knowledge, and the concept of progress.
Aphorisms and apothegmsLearning and scholarshipHistoryScienceHistory and criticismMethodologyQuotationsAnecdotesEnglish QuotationsAnecdotes, facetiae, satireWetenschapssociologieNewton, isaac, sir, 1642-1727