Buildings on bedrock or sand need foundations of different depth. So does a tower of knowledge

By George ILIEV
CorporateNature Metaphor Series, No 106

Do you need to have read Karl Marx in the original to be knowledgeable about Marxism? Or can you rely on the analyses of Marx by other authors as a shortcut?

This is like the foundations of buildings: buildings in New York City rest on granite, as this is the bedrock underneath the city; while the foundations of buildings in Shanghai rest on alluvial mud and sand.

Both types of buildings can be stable. The only difference is that when you are building on granite, you need fairly shallow foundations; while building on mud requires deep foundations. Monopile foundations for wind turbines in offshore areas sometimes go down 25 meters deep under the seabed.

Similarly, you knowledge of Marx (or Aristotle, or anyone else for that matter) can be based directly on their works only (like a building on granite) or it can be derived from other people's works on Marx (like a building on mud and sand). However, if you are relying on others, you need to dig deeper and cover a variety of sources. Otherwise your foundations may turn out shallow and your "tower of knowledge" may collapse.

Building foundations (Source: Wikipedia)