Pythagoreanism

Pythagoreanism is an early Greek philosophical school, which had the base of metaphysical beliefs. The statements and approach of Pythagoras and his students affected lots of following movements. The beginners of this school were settled in the South of Italy but after their part in the brutal fighting were dissipated.

The founder of this movement, Pythagoras, hadn’t written anything and the only thing we should do is to rely on his students’ works that fully expressed his views. Among them, one can name Philolaus, Empedocles, Parmenides, and Plato. However, their papers are preliminary and contradictory pretending to get the adequate imagination about the statements of school.

Pythagorean statements were governed by mathematics and teachers. Pythagoras is called to be one of the first philosophers that believed in metempsychosis. This phenomenon means that the soul can transmigrate and reincarnate after death.

Additionally, he stuck to another his teacher’s opinion about the ultimate substance of every single thing. He described this substance as apeiron and was sure that it had snorted the void, stuffing the cosmos with bubbles. These bubbles are vacuous, and they split the cosmos into many inter-connected parts, detached by voids. The interaction of apeiron and peiron is realized in accordance with the general harmony laws.

The Pythagoreans were famous for being vegetarians. This phenomenon was connected partly with religious, partly with ascetic, and partly with ethical reasons. Women also had the opportunity to study and be the participants of Pythagorean school of philosophy, but in addition to the school statements, they were supposed to learn the domestic skills.

As a philosophical school, this movement was separated into two different: akousmatikoi and mathematikoi. The first one was a school of listeners having for its focus ritualistic and religious points of teaching. The second was a movement of learners and accentuated more on developing the scientific and mathematic aspects of their founder’s work.

Two different schools were existing at the same time and were like opponents. The akousmatikoi stated that they were the only genuine movement that followed Pythagoras and was sure that the mathematikoi were actually following Hippasus. However, the mathematikoi accepted the fact that their opponents were Pythagorean but proclaimed that they themselves represented his statements more accurately.

As the time flew, the group of learners started, and most of them became the participants of Platonic school. Speaking of the mathematikoi group, they were wandering as ascetics and eventually joined the Cynicism movement.

After several centuries, Neo-Pythagoreanism appeared with the similar views as traditional Pythagoreans had. Among the prominent figures of this school, there is Apollonius of Tyana. Supporters of Neo-Pythagoreanism philosophical school mainly organized their meetings in Rome.

As a philosophical movement, Pythagoreanism had a great influence on the following schools and can be named as a dynamic effort on the culture of Western. The impact of these statements could be found in the development of history, theology, mathematics, astronomy, music, poetic, and other branches of culture in the Middle Ages.