Philolaus

When1:  -440

When2:  -400

Who:    Philolaus

What:   philosopher

Where:  Thebes, Greece

works\  Bacchae or Followers of Bacchus [-440 to -400]; On setting [-440 to -400]

Detail: He lived -480 to -405 and was Pythagorean. Cebes and Simmias were his students at Thebes.

Epistemology

People can know only finite things.

Metaphysics

Numbers are elements of being, because they are finite, eternal, and indestructible, and their fixed and orderly relations determine music, geometry, and heavenly motions. The series of numbers to infinity represents space. Material objects are space shaped into geometric Forms. All harmony and order depend on unity, the number 1. Opposites derive from odd and even numbers. Odd means limited, good, and perfect. Even means infinite, bad, and imperfect. Natural-world cycles are copies of number properties.

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Date Modified: 2022.0224