26

IN CONTEXT

NUMBER IS
BRANCH
Metaphysics
APPROACH

THE RULER
Pythagoreanism
BEFORE
6th century BCE Thales
proposes a non-religious

OF FORMS
explanation of the cosmos.
AFTER
c.535–c.475 BCE Heraclitus
dismisses Pythagoreanism

AND IDEAS
and says that the cosmos is
governed by change.
c.428 BCE Plato introduces
his concept of perfect Forms,
which are revealed to the

PYTHAGORAS (C.570–495 BCE) intellect and not the senses.

c.300 BCE Euclid, a Greek
mathematician, establishes
the principles of geometry.
1619 German mathematician
Johannes Kepler describes the
relationship between geometry
and physical phenomena.

W
estern philosophy was
in its infancy when
Pythagoras was born.
In Miletus, Greece, a group of
philosophers known collectively as
the Milesian School had started to
seek rational explanations for natural
phenomena only a generation or so
earlier, marking the beginning of
the Western philosophical tradition.
Pythagoras spent his childhood not
far from Miletus, so it is very likely
that he knew of them, and may
even have studied in their academy.
Like Thales, the founder of the
Milesian School, Pythagoras is
said to have learnt the rudiments
of geometry during a trip to Egypt.
With this background, it is not
 THE ANCIENT WORLD 27
See also: Thales of Miletus 22–23 ■ Siddhartha Gautama 30–33 ■ Heraclitus 40 ■ Plato 50–55 ■ René Descartes 116–23

Everything in the So if we ...we come to Mathematics is

universe conforms understand number understand the the key model
to mathematical and mathematical structure of for philosophical
rules and ratios. relationships... the cosmos. thought.

Number is the Number is the

ruler of forms. ruler of ideas.

surprising that he should approach following strict behavioral and Pythagoras’s beliefs—the mystical
philosophical thinking in a dietary rules, while studying his and the scientific—seem to be
scientific and mathematical way. religious and philosophical theories. irreconcilable, but Pythagoras
The Pythagoreans, as his disciples himself does not see them as
The Pythagorean academy were known, saw his ideas as contradictory. For him, the goal
Pythagoras was also, however, a mystical revelations, to the extent of life is freedom from the cycle
deeply religious and superstitious that some of the discoveries of reincarnation, which can be
man. He believed in reincarnation attributed to him as “revelations” gained by adhering to a strict
and the transmigration of souls, and may in fact have come from others set of behavioral rules, and by
he established a religious cult, with in the community. His ideas were contemplation, or what we would
himself cast as a virtual messiah, in recorded by his students, who call objective scientific thinking.
Croton, southern Italy. His disciples included his wife, Theano of Crotona, In geometry and mathematics he
lived in a collective commune, and daughters. The two sides of found truths that he regarded ❯❯

Pythagoras Little is known about Pythagoras’s community of around 300 people

life. He left no writings himself, in Croton, southern Italy. Its
and unfortunately, as the Greek members studied a mixture of
philosopher Porphyry noted in his mystical and academic studies,
Vita Pythagorae, “No one knows and despite its collective nature,
for certain what Pythagoras told Pythagoras was clearly the
his associates, since they observed community’s leader. At the age
an unusual silence.” However, of 60, he is said to have married
modern scholars believe that a young girl, Theano of Crotona.
Pythagoras was probably born on Growing hostility toward the
the island of Samos, off the coast Pythagorean cult eventually
of modern-day Turkey. As a young forced him to leave Croton, and
man, he travelled widely, perhaps he fled to Metapontum, also in
studying at the Milesian School, southern Italy, where he died
and probably visiting Egypt, which soon after. His community had
was a centrer of learning. At virtually disappeared by the end
the age of about 40, he set up a of the 4th century BCE.
28 PYTHAGORAS
Pythagoras’s Theorem showed that shapes
and ratios are governed by principles that
can be discovered. This suggested that it
might be possible, in time, to work out the
structure of the entire cosmos.

c2 There is geometry in
the humming of the strings,
b2 b c
there is music in the
spacing of the spheres.
Pythagoras
a

a2
triangular shape made up of rows of
dots) had a particular significance
in Pythagorean ritual. Less

b 2 = c2 contentiously, they saw the number

one as a single point, a unity, from
a2 + which other things could be derived.
The number two, in this way of
thinking, was a line, number three a
surface or plane, and four a solid; the
as self-evident, as if god-given, and that number (numerical ratios and correspondence with our modern
worked out mathematical proofs that mathematical axioms) can be used concept of dimensions is obvious.
had the impact of divine revelation. to explain the very structure of the The Pythagorean explanation of
Because these mathematical cosmos. He does not totally dismiss the creation of the universe followed
discoveries were a product of pure the Milesian idea that the universe a mathematical pattern: on the
reasoning, Pythagoras believes is made up of one fundamental Unlimited (the infinite that existed
they are more valuable than mere substance, but he shifts the enquiry before the universe), God imposed a
observations. For example, the from substance to form. Limit, so that all that exists came to
Egyptians had discovered that a This was such a profound change have an actual size. In this way God
triangle whose sides have ratios of in the way of looking at the world, created a measurable unity from
3:4:5 always has a right angle, and that we should probably forgive which everything else was formed.
this was useful in practice, such as Pythagoras and his disciples for
in architecture. But Pythagoras getting somewhat carried away, Numerical harmonies
uncovered the underlying principle and giving numbers a mystical Pythagoras’s most important
behind all right-angled triangles significance. Through exploring the discovery was the relationships
(that the square of the hypotenuse relationship between numbers and between numbers: the ratios and
equals the sum of the squares of the geometry, they discoved the square proportions. This was reinforced by
other two sides) and found it to be numbers and cube numbers that his investigations into music, and
universally true. This discovery was we speak of today, but they also in particular into the relationships
so extraordinary, and held such attributed characteristics to them, between notes that sounded pleasant
potential, that the Pythagoreans such as “good” to the even numbers together. The story goes that he
took it to be divine revelation. and “evil” to the odd ones, and even first stumbled onto this idea when
Pythagoras concludes that the specifics such as “justice” to the listening to blacksmiths at work. One
whole cosmos must be governed number four, and so on. The number had an anvil half the size of the other,
by mathematical rules. He says ten, in the form of the tetractys (a and the sounds they made when
 THE ANCIENT WORLD 29
hit with a hammer were exactly an atomic weight, those with similar
octave (eight notes) apart. While properties occur at every eighth
this may be true, it was probably by element, like notes of music. This
experimenting with a plucked string discovery became known as the
that Pythagoras determined the Law of Octaves, and it helped lead
ratios of the consonant intervals to the development of the Periodic
(the number of notes between two Law of chemical elements still Reason is immortal,
notes that determines whether they used today. all else mortal.
will sound harmonious if struck Pythagoras also established the Pythagoras
together). What he discovered was principle of deductive reasoning,
that these intervals were harmonious which is the step-by-step process
because the relationship between of starting with self-evident axioms
them was a precise and simple (such as “2 + 2 = 4”) to build toward
mathematical ratio. This series, a new conclusion or fact. Deductive
which we now know as the harmonic reasoning was later refined by
series, confirmed for him that the Euclid, and it formed the basis
elegance of the mathematics he had of mathematical thinking into attempt to grapple with a problem
found in abstract geometry also medieval times and beyond. that has dogged philosophy and
existed in the natural world. One of Pythagoras’s most religion in some ways ever since.
important contributions to the Almost everything we know
The stars and elements development of philosophy was about Pythagoras comes to us from
Pythagoras had now proved not the idea that abstract thinking others; even the bare facts of his life
only that the structure of the is superior to the evidence of the are largely conjecture. Yet he has
universe can be explained in senses. This was taken up by achieved a near-legendary status
mathemathical terms—“number Plato in his theory of Forms, and (which he apparently encouraged) for
is the ruler of forms”—but also resurfaced in the philosophical the ideas attributed to him. Whether
that acoustics is an exact science, method of the rationalists in the or not he was in fact the originator
and number governs harmonious 17th century. The Pythagorean of these ideas does not really matter;
proportions. He then started to attempt to combine the rational what is important is their profound
apply his theories to the whole with the religious was the first effect on philosophical thought. ■
cosmos, demonstrating the
harmonic relationship of the stars,
planets, and elements. His idea
of harmonic relationships between
the stars was eagerly taken up
by medieval and Renaissance
astronomers, who developed whole
theories around the idea of the music
of the spheres, and his suggestion
that the elements were arranged
harmoniously was revisited over
2,000 years after his death. In 1865
English chemist John Newlands
discovered that when the chemical
elements are arranged according to

Classical architecture follows

Pythagorean mathematical ratios.
Harmonious shapes and ratios are used
throughout, scaled down in the smaller
parts, and up for the overall structure.