  The paper investigates the historical and contemporary pursuit-worthiness of
cosmic inflation-the rationale for working on it (rather than necessarily the
evidential support for claims to its approximate truth): what reasons existed,
and exist, that warrant inflation's status as the mainstream paradigm studied,
explored, and further developed by the majority of the cosmology community?
We'll show that inflation exemplifies various salient theory virtues:
explanatory depth, unifying/integrative power, fertility and positive
heuristics, the promotion of understanding, and the prospect (and passing) of
novel benchmark tests. This, we'll argue, constitutes inflation's auspicious
promise. It marks inflation as preferable over both the inflation-less Hot Big
Bang Model, as well as rivals to inflation: inflation, we maintain, rightly
deserved, and continues to deserve, the concerted research efforts it has
enjoyed.
