 Although history, according to Cohen, “discloses the origin of idealism from the start”, we must rely no less upon our methodic understanding of idealism in order “to recognize this idealism correctly wherever it appears” (Cohen 1916: 305). This statement confirms the hermeneutic inseparability of system and history: each supports the other. By “systematically” determining idealism as the method of science, we enable idealism to recognize itself in its historical manifestations; these manifestations, in turn, furnish the “fact” of science to be systematically determined. This reciprocity of history and theory informs the following passage, in which Cohen links Plato with the Marburg program.