Cornelli In Search of Pythagoreanism

Pythagoreanism as an Historiographical Category
1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-3-11-030650-7
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, Band 4, 242 Seiten

Reihe: Studia PraesocraticaISSN

The history of Pythagoreanism is littered with different and incompatible interpretations, to the point that Kahn (1974) suggested that, instead of another thesis on Pythagoreanism, it would be preferable to assess traditions with the aim of producing a good historiographical presentation. This almost fourty-year-old observation by Kahn, directs the author of this book towards a fundamentally historiographical rather than philological brand of work, that is, one neither exclusively devoted to the exegesis of sources such as Philolaus, Archytas or even of one of the Hellenistic Lives nor even to the theoretical approach of one of the themes that received specific contributions from Pythagoreanism, such as mathematics, cosmology, politics or theories of the soul. Instead, this monograph sets out to reconstruct the way in which the tradition established Pythagoreanism’s image, facing one of the central problems that characterizes Pythagoreanism more than other ancient philosophical movements: the drastically shifting terrain of the criticism of the sources. The goal of this historiographical approach is to embrace Pythagoreanism in its entirety, through - and not in spite of - its complex articulation across more than a millennium.

Zielgruppe

Academics, Institutes, Libraries

Autoren/Hrsg.

Cornelli, Gabriele

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie Antike Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Geschichte der klassischen Antike
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie Vorsokratische Philosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Foreword;7
2;Acknowledgements;11
3;Note;12
4;Abbreviations;13
5;Introduction;15
6;1 History of criticism: from Zeller to Kingsley;21
6.1;1.1 Zeller: the skepticism of the beginnings;22
6.2;1.2 Diels: a Zellerian collection;28
6.3;1.3 Rohde: the reaction to skepticism;29
6.4;1.4 Burnet: the double teaching of acousmatics and mathematicians;31
6.5;1.5 Cornford and Guthrie: in search of unity between science and religion;33
6.6;1.6 From Delatte to De Vogel: Pythagoreanism and politics;37
6.7;1.7 Aristotle’s unique testimony and the uncertain Academic tradition;47
6.8;1.8 From Burkert to Kingsley: the third way and mysticism in the Pythagorean tradition;54
6.9;1.9 Conclusion;63
7;2 Pythagoreanism as a historiographical category;66
7.1;2.1 Interpreting interpretations: diachronic and synchronic dimensions;66
7.2;2.2 Pythagorean identity;69
7.3;2.3 The Pythagorean koinonía;75
7.4;2.4 Acousmatics and mathematicians;91
7.5;2.5 Conclusion;97
8;3 Immortality of the soul and metempsýchosis;100
8.1;3.1 “Is it the soul?” (Xenophanes);103
8.2;3.2 “Wiser than all” (Heraclitus and Ion of Chios);108
8.3;3.3 “Ten or twenty human generations” (Empedocles);111
8.4;3.4 Plato and Orphism;114
8.4.1;3.4.1 “Understanding the logos of their ministry”;115
8.4.2;3.4.2 Hierarchy of incarnations;120
8.4.3;3.4.3 Sôma-sêma;121
8.4.4;3.4.4 Pythagorean mediation;130
8.5;3.5 Herodotus, Isocrates and Egypt;135
8.6;3.6 Legends on immortality;138
8.7;3.7 A Pythagorean Democritus?;141
8.8;3.8 Aristotle and the Pythagorean myths;143
8.9;3.9 Conclusion;148
9;4 Numbers;151
9.1;4.1 All is number?;152
9.1.1;4.1.1 Three versions of the Pythagorean doctrine of numbers;152
9.1.2;4.1.2 Two solutions;161
9.1.3;4.1.3 The Philolaic solution;164
9.1.3.1;4.1.3.1 One book or three books?;165
9.1.3.2;4.1.3.2 Authenticity of Philolaus’ fragments;167
9.1.3.3;4.1.3.3 The Doric pseudo-epigraphic tradition;169
9.1.4;4.1.4 The Aristotelian exception (Met. A 6, 987b);173
9.1.5;4.1.5 The Platonic testimony (Phlb. 16c-23c);181
9.2;4.2 The fragments of Philolaus;186
9.2.1;4.2.1 Unlimited/limiting;186
9.2.2;4.2.2 The role of numbers in Philolaus;192
9.3;4.3 Conclusion;198
10;Conclusion;203
11;Bibliography;211
11.1;Primary sources;211
11.2;Secondary sources;214
12;Index of Topics;228
13;Index of Passages;233
14;Index of Names;238

Über Autor(innen)

Gabriele Cornelli, University of Brasília, Brazil.