Whitehead said, “Everything of importance has been said before by someone who did not discover it.”
I know Whitehead said this because J. Samuel Preus quotes him in an article about Spinoza. That’s not quite right, though: Preus doesn’t quote Whitehead, but quotes a quotation from Whitehead in a book by Robert Merton. And now here I am quoting a quotation of a quotation of a quotation (I think that covers it, but I’m dizzy).
Kinda confirms Whitehead’s point, which he probably learned from someone else anyway.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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