ABSTRACT
In this chapter and the next, I w an t to explore the relation o f conver-
gence and divergence to tw o other dimensions o f psychological rele-
vance: authoritarianism and masculinity. These dimensions w ere
chosen, n o t at random , bu t on the strength o f certain assumptions
about the nature o f m ental life. T he first o f these concerns the relation
o f the individual to intellectual authority. I w ould argue that in all
constructive brainw ork, a tension exists betw een the need to innovate
and the w eight o f established principle and precedent. K uhn has pointed to this in scientific research :
. . . only investigations firmly rooted in the contemporary scientific tradition are likely to break that tradition and give rise to a new one. That is why I speak o f an ‘essential tension* implicit in scientific research. To do his job the scientist must undertake a complex set o f intellectual and manipulative commitments. Yet his claim to fame, if he has the talent and good luck to gain one, may finally rest upon his ability to abandon this net o f commitments in favor o f another o f his own invention. Very often the successful scientist must simultaneously display the characteristics o f the traditionalist and o f the iconoclast.1
