A theory’s survival in a changed research program signals its intellectual merit.

Evidence

As is the case in any scientific endeavor, good ideas promote initial validational research, and the findings themselves spawn new ideas as well as methodological and technical innovations. Furthermore, as time passes, the society and culture in which the research is carried out change, creating new and unforeseen needs and scientific challenges; this is especially so in social science research. These processes lead to a research program that often does not resemble the original project, except in superficial ways. This change and openness is in fact a hallmark of good science, but the degree to which progressing and continuing research programs retain ideas from original theories is also an indication of the intellectual merit of those upon whose shoulders we, as scientists, stand. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1840

Categorization

• XREF: The metaphor of standing on the shoulders of those before — a direct echo of Newton’s famous aphorism about scientific inheritance. — connects to: The reduction of excellence to lifeless form paradoxically secures its survival. — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 1055
• APHORISMS: A generalizable principle: the degree to which a theory’s core ideas survive ongoing research is a measure of its merit — applicable well beyond social psychology.