Ancient Philosophy · Before Socrates
Pythagoras & the Power of Number
The cult leader from Samos who taught that the world is made of number: the theorem, the musical ratios, the shock of irrational numbers, transmigration of souls, and how Pythagoreanism shaped Plato and modern physics.
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Key idea
Prereqs: The Presocratics. Next: Plato; Euclid. Sources: Walter Burkert, *Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism* (1972); Carl Huffman, 'Pythagoras', *Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy*.Next: 1. Man and brotherhood