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Hyperprofessionalism and the crisis of readership in the history of science
1Department of the History of Science, Harvard University, Science Center 371, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Abstract:
There is a crisis of readership for work in our field, as in many other academic disciplines. One of its causes is a pathological form of the professionalism that we so greatly value. "Hyperprofessionalism" is a disease whose symptoms include self-referentiality, self-absorption, and a narrowing of intellectual focus. This essay describes some features and consequences of hyperprofessionalism in the history of science and offers a modest suggestion for a possible cure.
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