Radical Questioning

If a philosopher is to be a pioneer of thought, trying to open up a new path to truth, he or she inevitably has to challenge existing thoughts, traditions, authorities, accepted beliefs, and presuppositions other people take for granted. The advancement of thought is often only possible once the unrealized presuppositions of predecessors are identified, brought to the foreground, and examined. Using Thomas Kuhn's terminology, one could say that existing paradigms of thought have to be questioned. A philosophy is said to be radical ("radix" in Latin, means "root") when it reveals and questions the deepest root of thought. In this sense, Nietzsche is a foremost radical thinker and a pioneer of thought for all ages. Nietzsche questioned the two roots of Western thought, i.e., Christianity and the trust in the power of reason. That trust in reason stems from Greek philosophy and has descended all the way to modern philosophy.