ABSTRACT
It was clear that something rather extraordinary was happening. Even before the session the atmosphere was electric. It was like a time-bomb waiting to go off, and I walked into to the session with many doubts and uncertainties. As the paper had been circulated, I didn't read it or even summarize its main points. Everyone, it seemed, wanted to say something. I remember George Baron saying to me afterwards, “Well it had a slow start, but once you got wound up …” He recalled an incident where Griffiths interrupted me as I answered a question. I had been saying that the dominant theorists of the field were systems thinkers— I may have added that most were Americans … Griffiths interrupted at that point. “Name one,” he demanded in his stentorian voice. “Talcott Parsons,” I shot back. I might have added “Daniel Griffiths.” Baron said he was in admiration of that exchange. Certainly from that point the gloves were off; I have come to be deeply grateful to Daniel Griffiths for his latter day views, but it was another case in the beginning.
