Political Allegiance Shouldn’t Bear On Merit Of Argument

To the editors:



Alan Dershowitz dismisses allegations of plagiarism on the grounds that I am a “hard-left” academic (“Plagiarism Accusations Unfairly Characterized,” letter, May 5). I understand neither what this means nor its relevance: the basis of rational inquiry is the merit of an argument, not its provenance.



NORMAN G. FINKELSTEIN

Chicago, Ill.

May 8, 2006



The writer is a professor of political science at DePaul University.