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PHILOLAUS (b. c. 48o)
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See also:PHILOLAUS (b. c. 48o) , See also:Greek philosopher of the See also:Pythagorean school, was See also:born at See also:Tarentum or at See also:Crotona 1 (so Diog. Laert. viii. 84). He was said to have been intimate with See also:Democritus, and was probably one of his teachers. After the See also:death of See also:Pythagoras See also:great dissensions prevailed in the cities of See also:lower See also:Italy. According to some accounts, Philolaus, obliged to flee, took See also:refuge first in Lucania and then at See also:Thebes, where he had as pupils Simmias and See also:Cebes, who subsequently, being still See also:young men (VeaviUKot), were See also:present at the death of See also:Socrates. Before this Philolaus had returned to Italy, where he was the teacher of See also:Archytas. He entered deeply into the distinctively Pythagorean number theory, particularly dwelling on the properties inherent in the decad—the sum of the first four See also:numbers, consequently the See also:fourth triangular number, the tetractys (see Vit. Pythag. ap. Phot. Bibl. p. 712)—which he called great, all-powerful, and all-producing. The great Pythagorean See also:oath was taken by the sacred tetractys. The See also:discovery of the See also:regular solids is attributed to Pythagoras by Eudemus, and See also:Empedocles is stated to have been the first who maintained that there are four elements. Philolaus, connecting these ideas, held that the elementary nature of bodies depends on their See also:form, and assigned the See also:tetrahedron to See also:fire, the See also:octahedron to See also:air, the See also:icosahedron to See also:water, and the See also:cube to See also:earth; the See also:dodecahedron he assigned to a fifth See also:element, See also:aether, or, as some think, to the universe (see Plut. de Pl. Ph. ii. 6, EK 6E TOU 6w6eKai6pov T7 v TOO sraVTOs o4 aipav and Stob. See also:Eel. Phys. i. 10, 6 See also:Tar v¢aipas 6XK6s). This theory, however superficial from the standpoint of observation, indicates considerable knowledge of See also:geometry and gave a great impulse to the study of the See also:science. Following Parmenides, Philolaus regarded the soul as a " mixture and See also:harmony " of the bodily parts; he also assumed a substantial soul, whose existence in the See also:body is an See also:exile on See also:account of See also:sin. Philolaus was the first to propound the See also:doctrine of the See also:motion of the earth; some attribute this doctrine to Pythagoras, but there is no See also:evidence in support of their view. Philolaus supposed that the See also:sphere of the fixed stars, the five See also:planets, the See also:sun, See also:moon and earth, all moved See also:round the central fire, which he called the See also:hearth of the universe, the See also:house of See also:Zeus, and the See also:mother of the gods (see Stob. Eel. Phys. 488); but as these made up only nine revolving bodies he conceived, in accordance with his number theory, a tenth, which he called See also:counter-earth, aPr1xOwv. He supposed the sun to be a disk of See also:glass which reflects the See also:light of the universe. He made the lunar See also:month consist of 291 days, the lunar See also:year of 354, and the See also:solar year of 365k days. He was the first who published a See also:book on the Pythagorean doctrines, a See also:treatise of which See also:Plato made use in the See also:composition of his See also:Timaeus. This See also:work of the Pythagorean, to which the mystical name Bauxat is sometimes given, seems to have consisted of three books: (r) Hepi K6o-uou, containing a See also:general account of the origin and arrangement of the universe; (2) Hepi c/ioews, an exposition of the nature of numbers; (3) Hepi i'vxi3s, on the nature of the soul. Boeckh places his See also:life between the loth and 95th Olympiads (496-396 inc.). He was a contemporary of Socrates and Democritus, but See also:senior to them, and was probably somewhat junior to Empedocles, so that his See also:birth may be placed at about 480. See Boeckh, Philolaus See also:des Pythagoreers Lehren nebst den Bruchstiicken seines Werkes (See also:Berlin, 1819) ; Schaarschmidt, See also:Die angebliche Schriftstellerei des Philolaus (1864); also See also:Fabricius, Bibliotheca graeca; See also:Zeller, See also:History of Greek See also:Philosophy; Chaignet, Pythagore et la philosophic pythagorteienne, contenant See also:les fragments de Philolaus et d`Architas (1873) ; Th. See also:Gomperz, Greek Thinkers (Eng. trans. (1901), i. 123 sqq., 843 sqq. and authorities there quoted; also See also:art. PYTHAGORAS. For fragments see See also:Ritter and See also:Preller, Hist. Philosoph. ch. ii. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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