Notes on Lakatos

Extract

The invitation which has brought me here to comment on Professor Lakatos’ paper has given me much pleasure, for I have long been an admirer of his work, particularly of his early four-part paper, ‘Proofs and Refutations’. That does not mean, of course, that we have often agreed, but I have enjoyed the arguments that resulted and looked forward to this one. My pleasure, furthermore, was considerably enhanced when I discovered that Lakatos was going to be able to confound all precedent, his own and others, by getting this paper to me well in advance. It is a privilege few commentators are given, and I am correspondingly grateful.

All that I could have said before opening Lakatos’ manuscript — in fact, I did so in letters to both Lakatos and Roger Buck. Reading it has only increased my satisfaction, but in an unanticipated way.