Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans

Pythagoras (Pitagoras) is a fascinating scholar of antiquities. He lived in southern Italy before the better know Greek philosophers: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Although nothing survives of his writings, the foot prints of his thoughts appear throughout the world of ideas. His contributions go beyond the Pythagorean geometric formulas and the codification of the musical octave. In fact, many Platonic and Neoplatonic ideas have been from time to time attributed to him. Pre-Christian cults in ancient Rome observed his abstract ideas of reincarnation and numerology in their ritual.Charles H Kahn ties together the different fragment of knowledge about Pythagoras and produces a surprisingly readable 170 page text which will be of interest to all exploring the foundations of western philosophy.

Great book full of useful information, but it does require you have some knowledge of the culture and the pythagorians before you read it. Knowing basic euclidean geometry and being familiar with Hellenistic Greece would help understand this book better.

An excellent book covering everything necessary to acquaint oneself with the current scholarship on the subject. Interestingly written as well.

For a serious study of Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism, one must use Walter Burkert's "Lore and Science in Ancient Pythagoreanism". But that is a large book that would overwhelm a reader without long preparation in ancient Greek religion and philosophy, and would in fact be more information than most readers would want. For everyone else, Kahn's book is good enough, or at least is a good first step before opening Burkert.Kahn commands a massive amount of knowledge about ancient Greek philosophy. He has written books about Anaximander and Heraclitus. For a short survey to be reliable, it is necessary to know that the author has enough knowledge at their disposal not to miss important facts and to correctly weight each contribution.This book is best for its coverage of Pythagoreanism from the time of Pythagoras to the Roman era. Then Kahn jumps to Copernicus and Kepler, and gives inadequate coverage of medieval Pythagoreanism.

Charles H. Kahn's account of the Pythagorean philosophical tradtion, although less than 200 pages long, is well worth reading as what it lacks in quantity it makes up for in quality. In a concise, but intelligent, summary, Kahn traces Pythagoreanism from its semi-legendary founder through to such early modern scientists as Copernicus and Kepler. As a young academic who specialises in the Pythagorean tradition I can recommend this work wholeheartedly to scholars, but as a Latinist I must say I was disapointed by Kahn's treatment (or lack of) of this strand of Western philosophy in late Roman and Medieval thought. But, this is still the best up to date history of Pythagoreanism available in the English language.

Kahn, a scholar's scholar, is a recognized authority on early Greek thought. Anyone studying the Presocratics must read his work. Because there are no extent texts, speculation on Pythagoras rests on ancient commentary and modern conjecture. Contemporary philosophy professors have attempted to debunk the philosphical and mathematical geuius of Pythagoras. However, Kahn's thoughtful and cautious work questions this standard dismissal.

Kahn is an accredited scholar of all things preSocratic and Pythagorean. He does a good job of tracing Pythagorean thought from its origins to its more modern applications. Buy it only if you are interested in this topic otherwise you'll be bored.

A work of genius but some say he took his ideas from the Ancients.

Good introduction.