Three questions for a big book: Collins's The Sociology of Philosophies

This essay first describes some of the impressive theoretical and empirical contributions of The Sociology of Philosophies. namely: to cultural sociol ogy: Second, it offers a criticism of Collins's argument by focusing on the conceptions of the self it posits; its lack of specificity concerning the relationship between intellectual networks and imagined communities of scho lars: and its neglect of how the law of small numbers is affected by the si ze of a field Against a priori definitions of the selves of intellectuals p osited by Collins, I advocate approaching the diversity. of their selves as an empirical issue. Against Collins's overemphasis on personal network cen trality in the making of philosophical greatness, I propose that the transc endent values of intellectual work are insufficient but nonetheless necessa ry conditions for philosophical greatness.