PT.

RAVISHANKAR SHUKLA UNIVERSITY

RAIPUR, CHHATTISGARH.

SCHOOL OF SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL WORK

MSW 2nd sem

Topic: Pythagoras Thoughts On Rationalism

Guided By: Submitted By:

Prof. L.S Gajpal Sir Ujjwal Das

 CONTENTS:
 INTRODUCTION
 PYTHAGORAS KNOWN FOR?
 PYTHAGORAS THEOREM
 THOUGHTS ABOUT RATIONALISM
 CONCLUSION.
 Pythagoras And His Thought About
Rationalism
Introduction
Pythagoras was a Greek philosopher and
mathematician. He seems to have become
interested in philosophy when he was quite
young. As part of his education, when he was
about age 20 he apparently visited the
philosophers Thales and Anaximander on the
island of Miletus. Later he founded his famous
school at Croton in Italy.
What was Pythagoras known for?

Pythagoras himself came up with the theory that 

numbers are of great importance for understanding
the natural world, and he studied the role of
numbers in music. Although the Pythagorean
theorem bears his name, the discoveries of the
Pythagorean theorem and that the square root of 2
is an irrational number were most likely made after
his death by his followers.
 Pythagoras Theorem

Although the theorem is assigned to

Pythagoras, there is no record that confirms it
was developed directly by him and
not by members of his school. The theorem indi
cates that the square of the hypotenuse of a
right triangle equals the sum of the squares of
the lengths of the other two sides each one
ofthem called cathetus
 Pythagoras Thoughts On Rationalism

Pythagoras "believed these harmonies reflected

the ultimate nature of reality. He summed up the
implied metaphysical rationalism in the words 'All
is number'. It is probable that he had caught the
rationalist's vision, later seen by Galileo (1564–
1642), of a world governed throughout by
mathematically formulable laws"
 One of Pythagoras’s major contributions to
rationalism is the use of mathematical symbols.
The ancient Greeks thought that numbers were
made of two different types: masculine and
feminine, whole and incomplete. In addition, they
believed that numbers were perfect or imperfect,
beautiful or ugly. Although they believed that
only whole numbers were logical, they failed to
recognize that some numbers could be
incommensurable, and were illogical. In fact, the
Pythagoreans later referred to this as the “first
crisis in mathematics”.
 The early history of Pythagoras’s work is complex. It is
possible that Pythagorean societies existed as early as the
fourth century bce. Although Pythagoranism survived
only after a period of anti-Pythagorean strife, the
philosophy was not lost. Rather, it continued to influence
individual personalities and political life in southern
Italy.
 The first known reference to the Pythagorean
philosopher-mathematician is from 2000 BCE. In his time,
the Pythagorean society established itself in Italy.
According to Pythagoras, the world is all about numbers.
The motto of the Pythagoreans was “All is number.” It
was said that philosophy was based on the love of
learning mathematics and wisdom. Another Pythagorean
philosopher was Aesara of Lucania. Aesara’s famous
tripart soul theory held that the human soul consisted of
three parts, namely mind, spiritedness, and desires.
 Conclusion

 The Pythagoreans thus concluded that

things were or were made of numbers and
that the principles of numbers, the odd and
the even, are principles of all things. The
odd is limited and the even unlimited.