School of thought

Pythagoreanism

School

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Classification

Period
c. 570-300 BCE
Regions
europe
Domains
Logic , Metaphysics

Overview

Pythagoreanism developed from the community and way of life associated with Pythagoras of Samos. Early evidence links that tradition with rules of conduct, the transmigration of souls, and reverence for number, while developed accounts of mathematical cosmology belong especially to fifth-century Pythagoreans such as Philolaus. Later sources magnified Pythagoras's role, so discoveries and doctrines must not automatically be assigned to him personally.

Key ideas

  • Number and Order: Fifth-century Pythagoreans, especially Philolaus, developed accounts in which limiters, unlimiteds, harmony, and number make an ordered cosmos intelligible. These developed teachings should not be read back wholesale into Pythagoras.
  • Music and Ratio: The tradition connected musical concords with whole-number ratios. The earliest secure evidence for demonstrating these relations belongs to later Pythagoreans, so the discovery cannot confidently be credited to Pythagoras himself.
  • Transmigration and a Way of Life: Early testimony associates Pythagoras and his followers with transmigration of souls and a disciplined communal life. The surviving evidence does not establish a detailed theory of the soul or a complete program of spiritual purification taught by Pythagoras himself.

Key figures

Pythagoras · Philolaus · Archytas · Theano

Later connections

  • Eleaticism Influenced by this tradition
  • Neoplatonism Influenced by this tradition

    Absorbed the Pythagorean and Neopythagorean emphasis on the One and on number as the structuring principle of reality into its account of emanation.

  • Platonism Influenced by this tradition

References