On the Concept of the Genesis of Philosophical Ideas

Abstract

Historians of philosophy use the word genesis fairly freely. Most often it is supposed to denote the beginning of a certain trend, variously understood, a problem, argument, or, broadly speaking, a certain idea. Nevertheless, as Karl Jaspers pointed aptly, the beginning is something historical, something that once happened in a given time. In this sense it is always single and unrepeatable. If, however, some trends and ideas always recur in philosophy, it is better to speak about a source, or, perhaps, a few sources than about a beginning. It seems that the use of the term „genesis” to define such a source is legitimate. A source is, however, a genesis of another tpe than beginning, because in a sense it eludes time. The impulse stimulating to philosophizing flows from the sources on and on in various epochs. The paper first discusses the genesis of philosophical ideas understood as a beginning, then genesis understood as a source.