Intellectual originality can consist of synthesizing foreign sources rather than innovating

Evidence

As his colleagues at the LSE observed, Robbins was not a particularly innovative thinker; his great skill lay in his capacity to aggregate and synthesize the scholarly achievements of others. In a discipline that remained distinctly insular, however, he achieved signifi cant originality by elaborating on the insights of foreign sources that his colleagues found largely obscure. — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 59

Categorization

• DEFINE: Useful counter-example to the ‘innovative genius’ model of intellectual influence — synthesis of foreign work as a distinct form of originality.
• XREF: connects to: Original thought can also inherit a prior heritage; Orientalism’s novelty lay in combinatory scope rather than new knowledge — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Nations, Classes, Literatures, 318; Adaptation is original creation, not a compromised second-hand process — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 898 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Orientalism’s novelty lay in combinatory scope rather than new knowledge #corroborates (0.95) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 318
• Adaptation is original creation, not a compromised second-hand process #corroborates (0.85) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 898