Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism

by: Burkert, W.

Price: 139,00 EURO

1 copy in stock

For this first English edition of his distinguished study of Pythagoreanism, Weisheit und Wissenschajt: Studien zu Pythagoras, Philolaos, und Platon, Walter Burkert has carefully revised text and notes, taking account of additional literature on the subject which appeared between 1962 and 1969. By a thorough critical sifting of all the available evidence, the author lays a new foundation for the understanding of ancient Pythagoreanism and in particular of the relationship within it of “lore” and “science.” He shows that in the twilight zone when the Greeks were discovering the rational interpretation of the world and quantitative natural science, Pythagoras represented not the origin of the new, but the survival or revival of ancient, pre-scientific lore or wisdom, based on superhuman authority and expressed in ritual obligation.

Introduction
I. Platonic and Pythagorean Number Theory
The Platonic Theory of Ideal Numbers
The Philosophy of the Pythagoreans according to Aristotle
The Later Non-Aristotelian Tradition and Its Sources, Speusippus, Xenocrates, and Heraclides Ponticus
Pythagoreanism in Plato and the Origin in Platonism of the Pythagorean Tradition
II. Pythagoras in the Earliest Tradition
Source Problems
Historical Background
Metempsychosis and “Shamanism”
Acusmata Acusmatici and Mat hematici
Early Evidence for Pythagoras as a Scientist?
III. Philolaus
The Special Position of Philolaus? Book in the Pythagorean Tradition
The Spurious and the Genuine in the Philolaus Fragments
Reflections of Pythagorean Philosophy in the Fifth Century B.C.?
IV. Astronomy and Pythagoreanism
The Structure of the World and the Planetary System
The Theory of Planetary Movements
The Cosmos of Philolaus
Harmony of the Spheres and Astral Immortality
V. Pythagorean Musical Theory
Speculation, Experimentation, and Fiction
Number Symbolism and Calculation of Proportions in Philolaus
VI. Pythagorean Number Theory and Greek Mathematics
Did the Pythagoreans Lay the Foundations of Greek Mathematics?
Pythagorean Arithmetic
Pythagorean Geometry and Mathematical Secrets
Number and Cosmos
Abbreviations
Bibliography
Greek Words Discussed
Index of Passages
General Index

Walter Burkert was Professor Emeritus of Classics, University of Zurich.

Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism

by: Burkert, W.

• ISBN-13: 9780674539181 / 978-0-674-53918-1
• ISBN-03: 0674539184 / 0-674-53918-4
• Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1972

Price: 139,00 EURO

1 copy in stock