The Many Dimensions of Kenneth J. Arrow

The man and the scholar are indistinguishable, to a degree. For those of us who are fascinated not only by Arrow’s fundamental contributions, but also by his personality (his mind, spirit, humanity, conscience, and enthusiasm), this chapter hardly needs justification. Great scholars are not always admirable individuals. This is not true of Arrow. To the extent that I succeeded (as always, with the exemplary and devoted assistance of my ‘permanent partner in crime’, Ida) in capturing, however imperfectly, his qualities, I hope that this portrait will stimulate the younger scholar to emulate Arrow’s example. But Arrow is human and this is not a hagiography. The task of painting Arrow’s intellectual portrait was formidable, but my defective vision was not only tempered by good advice from friendly critics, but it is also modified by the images of Arrow that can be found throughout both volumes and particularly by those so vividly sketched in the chapters in Part V of this volume.