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PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHYTHE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PHILOSOPHY IN PRACTICEwww.practical-philosophy.org.uk www.society-for-philosophy-in-practice.org |
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PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHYTHE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PHILOSOPHY IN PRACTICEwww.practical-philosophy.org.uk www.society-for-philosophy-in-practice.org |
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Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans: a brief history
Charles H. Kahn
2001 Indianapolis: Hackett.
pp. xi + 195 ISBN 0-87220-575-4 (pb). £10.95
Practical Philosophy (Book Reviews) Spring 2002Volume 4.2
Reviewed by: Trevor Curnow
Although not usually regarded as the first western philosopher (that accolade being traditionally reserved for Thales), Pythagoras is nevertheless a seminal figure. In one sense perhaps he was the first ‘philosopher’, as he is widely credited with the invention of that term. More importantly, however, he seems to have been the first to see philosophy as involving a particular way of life, and it was in the hope of learning more about what that way of life entailed that I approached this book. Unfortunately, it did not have very much to say on the subject. However, that is not the author’s fault. Kahn is to be commended for sticking close to what is actually known, and resisting the temptation to indulge in groundless speculation so as to fill in the many gaps. What emerges is a sketchy but engaging narrative, with several interesting twists and turns.
One of the difficulties in getting to the bottom of the Pythagorean philosophy is the fact that its founder wrote nothing and its earliest adherents were bound by a vow of silence. It is not always easy to disentangle the original teaching from its later accretions and adaptations. Vegetarianism, for example, while often associated with Pythagorean living, seems not to have been practised from the outset, although dietary regulations of some kind (including the famous injunction not to eat beans) were obviously always important. More generally, since so little was known about Pythagoras, he became a convenient figure for later generations to attribute all kinds of ideas and activities to, presumably because such attributions were so difficult to disprove.
Kahn plausibly argues that at some point the more practical and the more theoretical elements of Pythagoreanism parted company and evolved in different directions. Some aspects at least of the Pythagorean way of life were taken up by the Cynics and later made their presence felt in Stoicism. For instance, the practice of daily self-interrogation evidenced in the writings of Seneca and Marcus Aurelius appears to have been a Pythagorean one. On the more theoretical side, the belief in the importance of numbers and harmony was taken up by Plato. The role played by Pythagorean ideas in his own philosophy and in the later developments of Platonism constitutes a major theme of the book. Surprisingly perhaps, this theme is traced right through to the works of Johannes Kepler.
In some ways, however, it is the minor matters that engage the interest more. While making relatively little of them, Kahn takes the positions that Pythagoras probably got his ideas on transmigration from India somehow, and that he was not the originator of the theorem bearing his name. And apparently the Romans named a species of cabbage after him. A number of obscure characters such as Moderatus of Gades and Nicomachus of Gerasa also flit across the pages from time to time, receiving a rare but refreshing outing in the realm of philosophical literature.
In the end, then, although not the book I was expecting or hoping to read, Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans turned out to provide a most enjoyable and informative experience.
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