ON THE SHADOWS OF IDEAS

We do not hold in high regard those who, relying solely on their own natural wit original: "proprio innixi ingenio", have attempted to construct something through artificial or methodical means while ignoring the wisdom of the past. We do not abolish the mysteries of the Pythagoreans Followers of Pythagoras, who believed numbers were the ultimate reality. We do not make light of the beliefs of the Platonists; and insofar as they have obtained a foundation in reality, we do not despise the reasonings of the Peripatetics The school of Aristotle, known for teaching while walking in the Lyceum.

We say this for a specific reason: to diminish the concern of those who wish to measure the minds of others by the standard of their own limited intellect. Of this kind is that unfortunate class of people who, although they have labored long over the works of the best philosophers, have not advanced their own minds to the point where they might stop lacking an intellect of their own. Even unto the end, they always use the mind of another. Yet, one should feel more compassion for such a person than for those who—ignoring their own intellectual poverty—dare to attempt what should not be dared. In a certain sense, such a person is to be praised (unless their deficiency remains due to mere negligence).

When people of this sort have been filled with the Aristotelian spirit—so that one might now see them as "vocal and walking books"—and they hear or read the title On the Shadows of Ideas, they will immediately stumble over the words. They will say that "Ideas" are merely dreams or monsters. Even if we were to grant them this, the question remains whether that which is shaped according to the very nature of things can be dismissed?.