But not to run the risk is to forgo the chance of success. I did not get the Fellowship, but got to Princeton on another, followed up my hunch, and in due course published the result. I have not succeeded in persuading the majority of my colleagues of the validity of my argument, but some are convinced, and scarcely a year goes by without some further discussion being published. To demand certain success in appointing academics is to diminish the chances of getting it. The academic world is very different from that of business.
Competition is of limited value in the world of ideas.
The important thing is not to worst one's rivals in the race for the top jobs, but to better one's own previous best in understanding, insight, honesty, accuracy and incisiveness. J.R. Lucas is a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. He recently visited Notre Dame, and Campinas, Brazil. He is a Fellow of the British Academy.