Something from Nothing

There is something odd about the original contribution to philosophy. “The history of Western philosophy is a series of footnotes to Plato.” For all the argument about the canon, there is little question about the axis Socrates-Plato-Aristotle. Just as with the approach to sacred Scripture, there is something that is foundational in a tradition. Even those who would subvert it read it against itself. This means that originality is foreclosed. The matter is there. We wrestle with it, interpret it, accept and reject. But we do not create.