  Before taking up our discussion of Albo’s thought, we must point out a significant methodological problem that this discussion entails. On the one hand, the common opinion in the literature on Albo estimates that he was not an original philosopher at all, and that the body of his book merely summarizes the various approaches he knew from the works of the Jewish philosophers that preceded him. This theory, in its extreme version, argues that even the theory of principles, the main reason for his book’s renown, is not Albo’s unique creation. In contrast, a more recent trend in research on Albo’s work identifies clear characteristics of esoteric writing in his book. This theory interprets the conflicting opinions on the issues in the book as belonging to two separate layers of writing – the external, exoteric layer, and the inner, esoteric layer. In many cases, these two research approaches lead to differing opinions regarding the question of Albo’s independent philosophical positions.