2.11 Creator And Culture: Who Owes Whom?

So mankind and the creator are on par. That means the creator and culture are on par, and this tells us something about both.
Richness of culture is not measured by the quantity of the works produced. First and foremost, it is measured by the different voices presented in works of culture. This is an obvious assertion now, coming from the fact that the most general developing mechanism of culture is dialogue. Interlocutors bearing different views have something to tell each other, and in doing so, develop their views. For example, it was crucial for the Antiquity to produce Plato and Aristotle, who are radically different in their approaches to philosophy. Because of this difference, they caused tremendous development of the Antique culture. Naturally, it wouldn't be nearly as beneficial to the development of culture if there were many Platos and no Aristotle.
On the other hand, if they are so tremendously different, what does it mean that their contributions belong to the same culture? We have encountered this paradox a few times already. We know that there are some ideas and thought patters that are specific to a certain culture. We also know that these ideas are represented by works within this culture. However, we know that these ideas do not coincide with these works. In Antiquity, for example, we can point out one such mainstream idea or thought pattern, "What is true? That which is beautiful. What is beautiful? That which has perfect form." This view of the truth led, for example, many philosophers in the 5th century BC to believe that the Earth is a sphere, simply because the sphere was considered to be the most perfect form! Of course, this is one small example of an idea at work which propelled the Antique authors and was developed by them. But...
We are returning to the first half of the paradox. And indeed, what does it mean that the idea ''was developed?'' That means two things: the author is representative of the his culture, and at the same time, he is different from his predecessors, peers and followers. Mainstream ideas of a culture propel dialogue (creativity, humanity, and so forth) of authors, and thus culture is developed in their dialogue. Therefore, a creator owes culture just as much as culture owes him.