The purpose of the conference "On Pythagoreanism", held in Brasilia in 2011, was to bring together leading scholars from all over the world to define the status quaestionis for the ever-increasing interest and research on Pythagoreanism in the 21st century. The papers included in this volume exemplify the variety of topics and approaches now being used to understand the polyhedral image of one of the most fascinating and long-lasting intellectual phenomena in Western history. Cornelli's paper opens the volume by charting (...) the course of Pythagorean studies over the past two centuries. The remaining contributions range chronologically from Pythagoras and the early Pythagoreans of the archaic period (6th-5th centuries BCE) through the classical, hellenistic and late antique periods, to the eighteenth century. Thematically they treat the connections of Pythagoreanism with Orphism and religion, with mathematics, metaphysics and epistemology and with politics and the Pythagorean way of life. (shrink)

For the first time, the reader can have a synoptic view of the reception of Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, East and West, in a multicultural perspective. All the major themes of Pythagoreanism are addressed, from mathematics, number philosophy and metaphysics to ethics and religious thought.

Die vorliegende Sammlung von Aufsätzen einiger der weltbesten Spezialisten der antiken griechischen Philosophie konzentriert sich auf die philosophischen Texte, die während der hellenistischen und kaiserlichen Zeit Pythagoras und den Pythagoreern zugeschrieben wurden. Ihre unbekannten Verfasser behaupten, die Positionen der ursprünglichen pythagoreischen Schule zur Metaphysik, Theologie, Zahlenphilosophie, Physik, Logik, politischen Philosophie, Ethik und zur richtigen Lebensweise zu vermitteln. Die kühnsten unter ihnen präsentieren sich als die Quellen, aus denen Platon und Aristoteles die Inspiration für den Timaios und die Kategorien geschöpft haben. (...) Da sie von den meisten antiken Denkern als maßgebend angesehen wurden, führte dies zu einer Renaissance der platonischen und pythagoreischen Tradition. (shrink)

This chapter examines aspects of the Pythagorean tradition from the perspective of “spiritual guidance”. The only traces that remain of the initial period of Pythagoreanism are the acousmata and a handful of authentic fragments of Philolaus of Croton. The chapter focuses on the Golden Verses, a short poem dating back to the Hellenistic period that constitutes the most complete and impressive illustration of spiritual guidance in a Pythagorean milieu. The chapter analyzes that despite the chronological distance that separates the Golden (...) Verses from the acousmata, what is at issue in both cases is the practice of the Pythagorean way of life, that gives guidance all its meaning. What emerges from the testimonies dealing with the Pythagoreans is that their way of life was practiced in a community, or the Pythagorean society or sect. (shrink)

Le fragment 129 d'Empédocle fait état du savoir prodigieux et du pouvoir des prapides d'un Super-Sage du passé en qui les sources citatrices et les interprètes modernes reconnaissent trop facilement Pythagore de Samos. Le but de la présente étude est de reprendre à nouveaux frais l'examen de ces six vers afin d'ouvrir le débat autour de la sagesse et des pouvoirs attribués à la figure anonyme du Super-Sage. Interprétant « Empédocle à partir d'Empédocle », mais aussi à l'aide des références (...) culturelles majeures de son temps, on essaie d'examiner quel type de sagesse était attribué à cette figure par le poète philosophe, de quelles conditions, physiologiques ou autres, relève l'acquisition de cette dernière et en quoi consiste son caractère exceptionnel. Empedocle's fragment 129 praises the exceptional knowledge and the power of the prapides of a Super-Sage of the past. In this sage both ancient testimonies and modern interpreters all too easily recognize Pythagoras of Samos. The aim of the present paper is to re-examine these six verses in order to open up the discussion on the wisdom and powers attributed to this unnamed figure. Interpreting « Empedocles by Empedocles », and also taking into account the major cultural references of his time, we try to define what kind of wisdom was attributed to this distinguished sage, under which conditions, physiological or otherwise, he was able to acquire it, and what constitutes the exceptional character of his knowledge. (shrink)