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A History of Pythagoreanism
This is a comprehensive, authoritative and innovative account of Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism, one of the most enigmatic and influential philosophies in the West. In twenty-one chapters covering a timespan from the sixth century BC to the seventeenth century AD, leading scholars construct a number of different images of Pythagoras and his community, assessing current scholarship and offering new answers to central problems. Chapters are devoted to the early Pythagoreans, and the full breadth of Pythagorean thought is explored including politics, religion, music theory, science, mathematics and magic. Separate chapters consider Pythagoreanism in Plato, Aristotle, the Peripatetics and the later Academic tradition, while others describe Pythagoreanism in the historical tradition, in Rome and in the pseudo-Pythagorean writings. The three great lives of Pythagoras by Diogenes Laertius, Porphyry and Iamblichus are also discussed in detail, as is the significance of Pythagoras for the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
530 pages, Hardcover
First published May 31, 2014
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November 11, 2019
240517: it is not clear why i read much of this. i did read most of the essays collected, i compare, i contrast- i try and find a theme, or rather several. as this is a collection there are some essays that are great and some essays that are less so. this is indeed sort of a postmodern history of deployment, development, dispersal, use of the 'pythagorean' intellectual brand. because he wrote little or none, enforced secrecy, did not have any interest in missionary or conversion of others, pythagoras is defined by those who follow after his death...
this is not unique in ancient philosophy of any lineage. it is interesting that his name, school, politics, all become used in following two millennia for varied purposes. first, there is use of the brand to buttress your own, in closeness or in rejection. second, there is the idealization of the thought project itself, the establishment of 'philosophy', as a way, a 'bios' of life. third, there are the appropriations of certain thoughts or rules or insights under your own name, either directly, such as platonists, or in pseudo-pythagoras authors whose only connection is through general, shared, greek or roman cultural history...
this book is mostly for academics, and this is why i came to wonder why i am reading it, for i am far from academia and extensive details of translations and who wrote this and where this idea came from, really do not involve me. but the trends that follow the career of 'pythagoras' as a name does. everyone of course has had their own motivations for interpreting, naming, satirizing or venerating, the unknown man himself or his many known followers. in this, i try to find a historical pattern...
and there are historical patterns. from early interpreters, writing near his time, politics and organization, as much as ideas metaphysical and ethical, are relevant. so there is examination of pythagoras, philolaus, archytas, some on those who claimed to be 'pythagoreans' just after his time, then some concerns on society, politics, on bios, ethics, and then how their way of being is distinct from orphism and other greek religions...
next, as the centuries pass, it is rather the philosophy, science, practical application of 'pythagorean' ideas that come forth. there is the fact he is rarely mentioned by name by say plato- though certain allusions are obviously to his ideas, some dialogue characters- then there is aristotle also not naming him in arguments though again he is present, and 'pythagoreans' get their own book but not him...
there are 'academics', 'peripatetics', presence in herodotus, diodorus, the pseudo writings, then the various interpretations throughout asia minor then the middle ages, the early renaissance, to the way he is now widely viewed. there are views on correctness/errors of experiments of harmonics, of ratios, of 'incommensurability' of his theorem. there are 'reviews' of three lives of... each derived, set, in relevant time and thoughtspace. fascinating, postmodern, many faceted biography not so much of the man but everything since connected to him...
this is not unique in ancient philosophy of any lineage. it is interesting that his name, school, politics, all become used in following two millennia for varied purposes. first, there is use of the brand to buttress your own, in closeness or in rejection. second, there is the idealization of the thought project itself, the establishment of 'philosophy', as a way, a 'bios' of life. third, there are the appropriations of certain thoughts or rules or insights under your own name, either directly, such as platonists, or in pseudo-pythagoras authors whose only connection is through general, shared, greek or roman cultural history...
this book is mostly for academics, and this is why i came to wonder why i am reading it, for i am far from academia and extensive details of translations and who wrote this and where this idea came from, really do not involve me. but the trends that follow the career of 'pythagoras' as a name does. everyone of course has had their own motivations for interpreting, naming, satirizing or venerating, the unknown man himself or his many known followers. in this, i try to find a historical pattern...
and there are historical patterns. from early interpreters, writing near his time, politics and organization, as much as ideas metaphysical and ethical, are relevant. so there is examination of pythagoras, philolaus, archytas, some on those who claimed to be 'pythagoreans' just after his time, then some concerns on society, politics, on bios, ethics, and then how their way of being is distinct from orphism and other greek religions...
next, as the centuries pass, it is rather the philosophy, science, practical application of 'pythagorean' ideas that come forth. there is the fact he is rarely mentioned by name by say plato- though certain allusions are obviously to his ideas, some dialogue characters- then there is aristotle also not naming him in arguments though again he is present, and 'pythagoreans' get their own book but not him...
there are 'academics', 'peripatetics', presence in herodotus, diodorus, the pseudo writings, then the various interpretations throughout asia minor then the middle ages, the early renaissance, to the way he is now widely viewed. there are views on correctness/errors of experiments of harmonics, of ratios, of 'incommensurability' of his theorem. there are 'reviews' of three lives of... each derived, set, in relevant time and thoughtspace. fascinating, postmodern, many faceted biography not so much of the man but everything since connected to him...
Displaying 1 of 1 review