ABSTRACT
The wording of this last remark was hardly very happy, since even if the figure cited is accurate (which seems unlikely), it can refer only to the evidence that has so far come to light. But there is no doubt that the problem exists, even if it is less grave than Anglo takes it to be. But the problem he has identified is simply one example of a wider one: it is in general less easy to assess the influence of individual thinkers than to track the general movements of thought over time in the disciplines or literary genres to which those thinkers were contributing. In order to be able to speak with confidence of the influence of one author on another, Skinner has suggested, one should be able to show that the author influenced was familiar with the works of the writer to whom he was allegedly indebted; and that the former could not have found the ideas in question elsewhere or could not have developed them independently. This last condition, as Skinner himself admits, would be very difficult for anyone to satisfy;2 but even the second one is a testing one for
I should like to thank Professor Suzy Butters for supplying me with the two documents to be found in the appendix, and to Dr Maurizio Arfaioli and Professor Michael Knapton for biographical or bibliographical information.
