1. Philosophy’s Numerical Turn

Rowett, Catherine

doi:10.1515/9783110331370.3

Cited by 19 publications

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“…He had a reputation for great learning and wisdom (see Empedocles 31B129), although he was treated satirically by both Xenophanes (21B7) and Heraclitus (22B40, B129). We do not know to what extent this included knowledge of mathematics, as would be suggested by the attribution to him of the famous Pythagorean theorem of geometry (Rowett 2013). The details of Pythagoras' views are unclear, but he seems to have advocated the reincarnation of the soul (a novel idea among the Greeks, also developed in Orphic religion) and the possibility of the transmigration of the human soul after death into other animal forms.…”

Section: The Pythagorean Traditionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Is Presocratic Philosophy?

Naddaf¹

2006

Ancient Philosophy

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The Presocratics were 6 and 5 century BCE Greek thinkers who introduced a new way of inquiring into the world and the place of human beings in it. They were recognized in antiquity as the first philosophers and scientists of the Western tradition. This article is a general introduction to the most important Presocratic philosophers and the main themes of Presocratic thought. More detailed discussions can be found by consulting the articles on these philosophers (and related topics) in the SEP (listed below). The standard collection of texts for the Presocratics is that by H. Diels revised by W. Kranz (abbreviated as DK). In it, each thinker is assigned an identifying chapter number (e.g., Heraclitus is 22, Anaxagoras 59); then the reports from ancient authors about that thinker's life and thought are collected in a section of "testimonies" (A) and numbered in order, while the passages the editors take to be direct quotations are collected and numbered in a section of "fragments" (B). Alleged imitations in later authors are sometimes added in a section labeled C. Thus, each piece of text can be uniquely identified: DK 59B12.3 identifies line 3 of Anaxagoras fragment 12; DK 22A1 identifies testimonium 1 on Heraclitus. Corruption I): these thinkers were his predecessors in a particular sort of inquiry, and even though Aristotle thinks that they were all, for one reason or another, unsuccessful and even amateurish, he sees in them a similarity such that he can trace a line of continuity of both subject and method from their work to his own. The questions that the early Greek philosophers asked, the sorts of answers that they gave, and the views that they had of their own inquiries were the foundation for the development of philosophy as it came to be defined in the work of Plato and Aristotle and their successors. Perhaps the fundamental characteristic is the commitment to explain the world in terms of its own inherent principles. By contrast, consider the 7 century BCE poem of Hesiod, his Theogony (genealogy of the gods). Hesiod tells the traditional story of the Olympian gods, beginning with Chaos, a vague divine primordial entity or condition. From Chaos, a sequence of gods is generated, often by sexual congress, but sometimes no cause for their coming to be is given. The divine figures that thus arise are often connected with a part of the physical universe, or with some aspect of human experience, so his theogony is also a cosmogony (an account of the generation of the world). The divinities (and the associated parts of the world) come to be and struggle violently among themselves; finally Zeus triumphs and establishes and maintains an order of power among the others. Hesiod's world is one in which the major divinities are individuals who behave like superhuman beings (Gaia or earth, Ouranos or sky, Cronos-an unlocated regal power, Zeus); some of the others are personified characteristics (e.g., Momus, blame; and Dusnomia, lawlessness). For the Greeks, the fundamental properties of divinity are immortality (they...

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Section: The Pythagorean Traditionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Is Presocratic Philosophy?

Naddaf¹

2006

Ancient Philosophy

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“…arguing for a Heraclitean reading of the entire dialogue. 16 This point is nicely made inRowett (2013), pp. 11-16.…”

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confidence: 94%

How Musical was Heraclitus’ Harmony? A reassessment of 22 B 8, 10, 51 DK

Sassi

2015

Rhizomata

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This essay provides a comprehensive and detailed analysis of a cluster of Heraclitus’ fragments that revolve around an image of ‘musical’ harmony (B 8, 10, and 51 Diels-Kranz). The aim is to demonstrate that more numerous as well as more specific references to contemporary musical practice can be found in these fragments than is usually thought. In particular, it is argued that in his talk of cosmic

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Pythagoras and Heraclitus

Breidenstein

2023

Nietzschean, Feminist, and Embodied Perspectives on the Presocratics

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1. Philosophy’s Numerical Turn

Cited by 19 publications

References 0 publications

What Is Presocratic Philosophy?

What Is Presocratic Philosophy?

How Musical was Heraclitus’ Harmony? A reassessment of 22 B 8, 10, 51 DK

Pythagoras and Heraclitus

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