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Pythagoras

Pythagoras, known as "the father of numbers", made influential contributions to Greek philosophy and religious teaching in the late 6th century BC. Because legend and obfuscation cloud his work even more than with the other pre-Socratics, one can say little with confidence about his life and teachings.

Table of contents

1 Biography 2 Doctrine and Teaching 3 Literary Works 4 Scientific Contributions 5 References 6 External links

Biography

In any case, Pythagoras undertook a reform of the cultural life of Croton, urging the citizens to follow virtue and forming an elite circle of followers around himself. Very strict rules of conduct governed this cultural center. He opened his school to men and women students alike.

According to Iamblichus (philosopher), the Pythagoreans followed a structured life of common meals, exercise, reading and philosophical study. We may infer from this that participants required some degree of wealth and leisure to join the inner circle. Music featured as an essential organizing factor of this life: the disciples would sing hymns to Apollo together regularly; they used the lyre to cure illness of the soul or body; poetry recitations occurred before and after sleep to aid the memory.

''Pythagoras as portrayed on Roman coins from Samos''

Doctrine and Teaching

Later Pythagoreans divided into two camps. The akousmatikoi held to these sumbola as the whole of their master's teaching. The mathematikoi added research into geometry, musical theory, astronomy, mechanics and other sciences. The mathematikoi held that the akousmatikoi knew only the outer form of the doctrine, but they themselves claimed to know the inner as well. The akousmatikoi accused the mathematikoi of adding extraneous material to the original teaching. Even today, scholars cannot definitively identify the "real" Pythagoreans.

The subsequent biographical traditions of Pythagoras reflect this split: they portray him alternately as a down-to-earth political reformer, a pioneering scientist, or a wild shaman-figure. The truth no doubt lay somewhere in between, but one cannot always say precisely where.

Literary Works

Scientific Contributions

It is sometimes difficult to determine which ideas Pythagoras taught originally, as opposed to the ideas his followers later added. While he clearly attached great importance to geometry, classical Greek writers tended to cite Thales as the great pioneer of this science rather than Pythagoras. The later tradition of Pythagoras as the inventor of mathematics stems largely from the Roman period.

Whether or not we attribute the Pythagorean theorem to Pythagoras, it seems fairly certain that he had the pioneering insight into the numerical ratios which determine the musical scale, since this plays a key role in many other areas of the Pythagorean tradition and since no evidence remains of earlier Greek or Egyptian musical theories.

The influence of Pythagoras has transcended the field of mathematics, and the Hippocratic Oath — with its central commitment to First do no harm — has its roots in the oath of the Pythagorean Brotherhood [1].

References

• Primary sources:

• Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum VIII (Lives of Eminent Philosophers)
  Porphyry, Vita Pythagorae (Life of Pythagoras)
  Iamblichus, De Vita Pythagorica (On the Pythagorean Life)
• Secondary literature:
  • Eric Temple Bell, The Magic of Numbers, Dover, New York, 1991
  • Walter Burkert, Science and Lore in Ancient Pythagoreanism
  • K. L., Guthrie (Ed.), The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library, Phanes, Grand Rapids, 1987 ISBN 0-933999-51-8
  • Dominic J. O'Meara, Pythagoras Revived, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1989

• Pythagoreanism Web Site
• Pythagoreanism Discussion Group
• Pythagorean doctrine and what became of it.
• Related to the above, deals with their use of the pentagram and the associated doctrines.

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