Miscellaneous Encyclopedia Articles by Anthony F. Beavers

Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans

Pythagoras of Samos (c.560-c.480 BC), mathematician, philosopher and religious leader, founded a religious community (the Pythagorean Order) in Croton on the coast of Italy around 530 BC. According to Aristotle (see Metaphysics 985b-986a), the Pythagoreans, first to develop the science of mathematics, revered number as the first principle of all things, probably due to their discovery that the principles of musical harmony could be explained with mathematics. In the same passage, Aristotle informs us that some Pythagoreans believed that the generation of numbers and the cosmos itself could be explained by a "Table of Opposites" consisting of the following pairs: (1) Limit and the Unlimited; (2) Odd and Even; (3) Unity and Plurality; (4) Right and Left; (5) Male and Female; (6) Rest and Motion; (7) Straight and Crooked; (8) Light and Darkness; (9) Good and Evil; and (10) Square and Oblong; though he is uncertain of whether Alcmaeon, who held a similar view, "derived the theory from [the Pythagoreans] or they from him."

Though evidence of the early cult is minimal, mostly because its members resisted writing in favor of committing things to memory, scholars are certain that it held to the doctrines of the immortality and transmigration of the soul. Xenophanes reports that "Once, they say, he (Pythagoras) was passing by when a dog was being ill-treated. 'Stop!' he said, 'don't hit it! It is the soul of a friend! I knew it when I heard its voice'" (Fragment 7). Diodorus, who confirms this belief in transmigration (see Historical Library 10.6.1), provides us with a portrait of Pythagoras and the practices of his followers. (See 10.3.1 & ff). As evidence of the rigor of their ascetic practices, he relates the following story:

The Pythagoreans trained themselves in the exercise of self-control in the following manner. They would have prepared for them everything which is served up at the most brilliant banquets, and would gaze upon it for a considerable time; then, after through mere gazing they had aroused their natural desires with a view to their gratification, they would command the slaves to clear away the tables and would at once depart without having tasted of what had been served. (10.5.2)

Such practices were to teach the initiates to live the intellectual life, rather than the life of the body, and, in so doing, bring the soul into harmony with the natural order or harmony of the cosmos. Another more deliberate means to this end was the practice of ritual purification through the contemplation of numbers.

Though Pythagorean elements can be found throughout Plato's Dialogues, especially the middle ones, which are dedicated to the soul, the Phaedo is explicitly Pythagorean. Evidence of this connection is apparent in the way that Plato deals with the general topics of the dialogue, the immortality and transmigration of the soul. Furthermore, Phlius, mentioned at the outset, was the home of an established Pythagorean community, and Echecrates was one of its members. (See 57a-58a). Philolaus, mentioned at 61d, was also a Pythagorean. In addition, the metaphysical doctrines concerning the separation of the soul from the body through the practice of philosophy (see especially 80c-84b) strongly resemble the practice of ritual purification through the contemplation of numbers, and the doctrine of recollection (see 72e-77d) would seem to be Pythagorean as well. The Phaedrus also deals with some of these themes.

Plato explicitly mentions Pythagoras in the Republic where, at 600b, he contrasts him with Homer: "Had [Homer] in h is lifetime friends who loved to associate with him, and who handed down to posterity an Homeric way of life, such as was established by Pythagoras who was so greatly beloved for his wisdom, and whose followers are to this day quite celebrated for the order which was named after him?" Herodotus confirms this reputation, calling Pythagoras "one of the greatest Greek teachers" (Histories 4.95.2), though Heraclitus would seem to think it undeserved. (See Fragments 16 & 17).

Written for Exploring Plato's Dialogues