His historical picture, in part made by himself and in part taken over, his poetic invention of the history of philosophy/' has not and does not remain fixed that he knows; and yet every invention serves him and can serve him in understanding himself and his aim, and his own aim in relation to that of others and their inventions/' their aims, and finally what it is that is common to all, which makes up philosophy as such as a unitary telos and makes the systems attempts at its fulfillment for us all, for us who are at the same time in company with the philosophers of the past (in the various ways we have been able to invent them for ourselves).