Plagiarism

Running Head : Plagiarism

Plagiarism

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In Something Borrowed ' social science journalist Malcolm Gladwell (2004 ) and author of pop sociology tomes like Blink and The Tipping Point , wrestles with the notion of plagiarism . Gladwell 's confrontation with the issue starts with a British playwright who plagiarizes not only the autobiography of a psychiatrist as material for her psycho-drama stage play , but a pro he wrote of said psychiatrist in the New Yorker

Gladwell (2004 ) argues that , although plagiarism is founded on the simple notion

that stealing the words of others is a transgression against ethics , the increasingly obsessive fixation towards strengthening copyright law and court decisions favoring protectionist rulings is an alarming sign that society ceases to evaluate such charges in a qualitative manner . His attempts to re-frame conceptions of plagiarism lie on the side of creative culture its reliance on preceding creative works

Having found that entire passages were lifted from his New Yorker piece , Gladwell (2004 ) recounts how he raised his concerns with the playwright , Bryony Lavery , noting that although he was happy to inspire her work , he took offense at being quoted without approval . However Gladwell expresses second doubts about a hard line conception of plagiarism

Gladwell (2004 ) further emphasizes this doubt by pointing out how `copying ' serves to further a culture of creativity , as made evident in the history of popular music . The Beastie Boys sampled a six second flute sequence from jazz musician James Newton , Led Zeppelin taps into the blues to enrich their rock artistry and how Barry Manilow 's work informs the Wham ! holiday classic , Last Christmas

Gladwell argues that what matters more than artists and appropriating the works of others is the matter of how they appropriate Old words in the service of a new idea aren 't the problem . What inhibits creativity is new words in the service of an old idea (Gladwell , 2004 ) He concludes that the problem with plagiarism discussions is that they have become extremist in nature , focused mostly on people copying than why they copy

However , Judge Richard Posner , a pragmatically oriented legal thinker who sits on the Court of Appeals is renowned for his clarity of legal theorizing . Posner shares the same fundamental skepticism regarding outspoken cries against plagiarism , and as such , chooses to examine it from a legal perspective

In a piece for the Boston-based magazine The Atlantic , entitled On Plagiarism ' Posner (2002 ) explores the spaces in which `copyright infringers , `plagiarists ' and acknowledged unacknowledged forms of copying intersect and contradict to give rise to a phenomenological ethics of copying

Posner (2002 ) differentiates plagiarists from copyright infringers by noting that copyright infringement is an act that carries legal and commercial connotations , while the former is an ethical transgression As such , he defines plagiarism as the unacknowledged copying of other people 's work , copyrighted or uncopyrighted , but like Gladwell , he points out that many examples exist in which plagiarism served necessary to great art such as the writings of Shakespeare and the paintings of Edouard Manet

Posner quips , If these are examples of plagiarism , then we want more plagiarism . They show that not all unacknowledged copying is "plagiarism " in the pejorative sense (Posner , 2002 Furthermore , lack of acknowledgement is not tantamount to authorial deception and plagiarizing can be done to add value

As such , the severity of criticisms to be directed towards those who plagiarize should be contingent on where execution and intent give context . Plagiarism in a popular text is irrelevant to a readership that only cares about a good read , Posner argues , but in academics , it is of graver concern because they may lead the misled reader to act on mistaken perceptions of the author 's originality , creativity and /or brilliance that are directly related to the work , such as promoting a junior professor or giving good grades to a student (Posner , 2002

REFERENCES

Gladwell , M (2004 , November 22 ) Something Borrowed . The New Yorker

Posner , R (2002 , April ) On Plagiarism . The Atlantic

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