Blackwell Reference Online

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Philosophical method In a famous remark, A. N. Whitehead said that the development of Western philosophy is a series of footnotes to Plato. This was not a substantive claim that every subsequent development is nothing more than an expansion or exegesis of what Plato said in his works, but should be considered as a metaphor to indicate how powerfully Plato's thought has influenced the Western tradition. Various contemporary philosophical achievements are deeply indebted to him. Plato's works are an inexhaustible mine of suggestion. The remark also points to the reflective nature of philosophy, by which earlier thought remains crucially important for later work. In contrast, science generally supersedes its past.“The safest general characterisation of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.”Whitehead, Process and Reality ... log in or subscribe to read full text