Abstract

This article responds to Professor Sciulli's long criticism of my work on professions in this issue of Sociologica. I look at the general theory he sketches based on his case study of the French Academie d'Arts Visuels, and I argue that I never intended to produce a general theory. I advocate the right to adopt different approaches for different problems, and declare myself partisan of an intellectual style that builds on the contributions of others rather than seeking to delete them.