 Nonetheless, even with this change in the status of the Aristotelian works, Aristotle remained an authority in the sense that his texts were still the starting point for discussion, and medieval philosophy in general remained centered on authoritative texts and, hence, on their commentaries. This emphasis on the commentary points to two important differences between medieval and much contemporary philosophy. First, medieval philosophical writers understood their own work as emerging out of a tradition of authorities rather than in abstraction from or in opposition to a tradition (see below section 3, “Role of Authorities”). Second, their work emerges out of an encounter with texts rather than in unmediated contact with ideas, problems, or arguments. (On the assumptions and characteristics of a commentary-based notion of philosophy see Smith 1991, 3–7.) These ways of doing philosophy do not mean that medieval philosophers were incapable of originality, only that their original thought comes out of an acknowledged connection with what went before. Nor does it mean that medieval philosophers were not engaged with ideas but only words and texts. For, they would argue, we can only confront ideas through the language in which they are expressed.