Pythagoras: a Universe Made of Numbers
Pythagoras:
A Universe made of Numbers
PART 1 Pythagoras & His Philosophy Pythagoras of Samos is often described as the first pure mathematician. He is an extremely important figure in the development of mathematics yet there is relatively little known about his mathematical achievements. Unlike many later Greek mathematicians, where at least we have some of the books which they wrote, there is nothing of Pythagoras's writings. The society which he led, half religious and half scientific, followed a code of secrecy which certainly means that today Pythagoras is a mysterious figure. This does not mean that we cannot gain some incite on who he was or what he taught or believed, because there are details of Pythagoras's life from early biographies which use important original sources. Yet these biographies are written by authors who attribute divine powers to him, and whose aim was to present him as a god-like figure. What will be presented in the rest of this paper is an attempt to collect together the most reliable sources to reconstruct an account of Pythagoras's meta-physic, epistemology, and ethics, but first, in order to understand Pythagoras more fully, a brief journey into his life will be dealt with first. Pythagoras was born in 580 B.C. to a more than wealthy family. He received the finest formal education in gymnastics, music, mathematics, and natural sciences and was taught to think and see the world as a scientist. He traveled widely, from Egypt, to the Mediterranean, and most of Asia, where he learned culture customs, geometry, and astronomy. His traveling experiences, observation, and questions and ideas are probably the ferment of Pythagoras's philosophy. At the age of fifty, Pythagoras moved to Italy and set up a school of antiquity. Over the gate of the Academy, a sign read: "Only mathematicians enter here" Members of this school took up strict rules in learning mathematics, science, music, the arts, and vocations in the care of the
A Universe made of Numbers
PART 1 Pythagoras & His Philosophy Pythagoras of Samos is often described as the first pure mathematician. He is an extremely important figure in the development of mathematics yet there is relatively little known about his mathematical achievements. Unlike many later Greek mathematicians, where at least we have some of the books which they wrote, there is nothing of Pythagoras's writings. The society which he led, half religious and half scientific, followed a code of secrecy which certainly means that today Pythagoras is a mysterious figure. This does not mean that we cannot gain some incite on who he was or what he taught or believed, because there are details of Pythagoras's life from early biographies which use important original sources. Yet these biographies are written by authors who attribute divine powers to him, and whose aim was to present him as a god-like figure. What will be presented in the rest of this paper is an attempt to collect together the most reliable sources to reconstruct an account of Pythagoras's meta-physic, epistemology, and ethics, but first, in order to understand Pythagoras more fully, a brief journey into his life will be dealt with first. Pythagoras was born in 580 B.C. to a more than wealthy family. He received the finest formal education in gymnastics, music, mathematics, and natural sciences and was taught to think and see the world as a scientist. He traveled widely, from Egypt, to the Mediterranean, and most of Asia, where he learned culture customs, geometry, and astronomy. His traveling experiences, observation, and questions and ideas are probably the ferment of Pythagoras's philosophy. At the age of fifty, Pythagoras moved to Italy and set up a school of antiquity. Over the gate of the Academy, a sign read: "Only mathematicians enter here" Members of this school took up strict rules in learning mathematics, science, music, the arts, and vocations in the care of the