Pythagoras

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Pythagoras left no written works; what is known about him and about his school is from a book written by the Pythagorean, Philolaus of Tarentum, which influenced Plato's philosophy. The author points out that Pythagoras considered himself a philosopher, which is clearly mentioned in Diogenes Laertios' letters, and the dialogues of Cicero, inspired by the Greek Iore. The paper states that the Pythagorean philosophy is related with the theory of numbers, which are not only the symbols of reality but the very substance of real things.

From the Paper:

"The theory of numbers is strongly connected with the harmony of spheres, this way, number ten being the perfect one has a body under the earth moving parallel with it and which is invisible to us. The five planets, the sun, the moon, and the earth with its counter-earth, moving from west to east at rates of speed proportionate to the distance of each from the central fire, produce eight tones which give an octave, and, therefore, a harmony. In their psychology and their ethics the Pythagoreans used the idea of harmony and the notion of number as the explanation of the mind and its states."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Laertius Diogenes, Life and doctrine of Pythagoras from Vitae Philosophorum VIII -(Lives of eminent philosophers -Pythagoras) -Translation by C.D. Yonge
• Walter Burket, The Theory of Numbers from Lore and science in Ancient Pythagoreanism" -, Harvard University Press, June 1 1972
• The PythagoreanPphylosopy from the Internet at http://history.hanover.edu/texts/presoc/pythagor.htm
• Aspects of Phytagoras' life from the Internet at http://www.iep.utm.edu/p/pythagor.http
• The Pythagorean School from the Internet at http://www.math.tamu.edu/~don.allen/history/pythag/pythag.html

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• Essay # 143688 : "Defining The Monism, Dualism, And Pluralism In The Philosophy Of Thales, Empedocles, And Pythagoras"

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