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View in PDF(opens in a new window)Philosophy of Pythagoras
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.&
, . A.
(2023). Re-Reading The Humans Within the
APA:
context of the theorem and philosophy of pythagoras. RumeliDE Dil ve Edebiyat
Dergisi, (33), 1198-1211. DOI: 10.29000/rumelide.1283502
Abstract
In The Humans
from an extra-terrestrial planet. The extra-terrestrials have solved the mystery of prime numbers and
have gone far beyond humanity in every sense. On the other hand, the humans living on Earth have
just solved the secret about prime numbers that started with Pythagoras and continued for centuries.
A professor named Andrew has reached the solution; with this solution, people will make significant
progress in many fields, especially in areas related to technology. This transformation is seen as a
danger to the world, and the extra-terrestrials try to prevent it. An alien lands on Earth and tries to
eliminate Professor Andrew and the people who know this solution. At this point, the reader not only
witnesses the struggle between an alien and humans, but is also confronted with an action-packed
science fiction with traces of the famous philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras in the
background. The author indirectly references
philosophy, and thought in his narrative, which he tells as humor independent of all this intensity.
This study aims to address Haig's work with Pythagoras in the background by making Pythagoras
more visible. It aims to examine in detail the direct and indirect references to Pythagoras in his work,
which is mathematical and philosophical.
Keywords: Matt Haig, The Humans, Pythagoras, Pythagorean theorem, philosophy
Teoremi ve Felsefesi Ba
Pisag
, leylaadgzl@yyu.edu.tr,
: 24.01.2023 kabul tarihi: 20.04.2023; DOI:
1
2
3
ORCID ID: 0000-0003-3102-2053
10.29000/rumelide.1283502]
aytaco@yyu.edu.tr, ORCID
ID: 0000-0002-6466-1989
mervebetulgormez@yyu.edu.tr,
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-6877-7663
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Hem matematiksel hem de felsefi bir okuma
teoremi, felsefe
Anahtar kelimeler:
Introduction
Turning into a full-time writer after running his own internet marketing company and working in a
nightclub, English writer Matt Haig has written science fiction and stories in addition to novels and
books of thought for children and adults that are popular for the last years. His Reasons to Stay Alive
was among the top 10 books for 46 weeks in the UK, making it Sunday Times bestseller. Father
Christmas and Me, one of the bestA Boy Called Christmas, has been translated into more than
fortly languages. He has written for various national newspapers, especially The Guardian and The
Independent. His bestselling and award-winning adult novels include How to Stop Time, the Radleys,
the Humans and the Midnight Library. Combining the genres of science fiction, psychological fiction,
bildungsroman and humor, the Humans tries to explore the meaning of being human, the necessity of
pain and the healing power of love, what it means to pursue happiness and love without any calculations,
the concept of family and what it means to have reasons to bind people to life.
In The Humans, the main character is an alien sent from the planet of Vonnadorian to the earth to fulfil
a mission. His job is to disguise himself as Andrew Martin, the top mathematics professor at The
University of Cambridge. He has accomplished many successful attempts and destroyed the Riemann
hypothesis before other people learn about it. In his hypothesis, Martin uncovered the secret of prime
numbers and thus took a step forward by solving the mysteries of the universe, ending sickness and
death for humanity, and guaranteeing a giant leap forward. The protagonist of the novel, the alien, finds
himself naked when he wakes up in the image of the murdered mathematics professor Andrew Martin.
The only thing he learns about the Earth from the planet he came from is the greed and helplessness of
strange looks from people for being naked and is later arrested by the authorities. He is thought to be
mentally ill due to his behaviors and is taken to the hospital. The alien
irrationality, primitiveness and bigotry. After being discharged from the hospital, he goes to the
s
wife, Isobel.
As he waits for the right time to kill them, he begins to realize the differences and beauties on earth. He
begins to love music, poetry, the family dog Newton, Gulliver, his wife Isobel, and peanut butter, which
makes him happy. He begins to feel emotionally attached to people and things in the world. This is an
unacceptable situation on the planet he came from, and he receives warnings from the planet to correct
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View in PDF(opens in a new window)this situation. Although human emotions he feels frighten and excite him, he cannot prevent this
situation. The Alien, who is attached to Isobel and Gulliver, protects them, and shows them interest and
affection, this surprises them very much because the professor has always been a person who is
dependent on his work, indifferent, obsessive, and does not show his love.
When Andrew realizes that he cannot kill them, he tries to convince his fellow countrymen that Isobel
and Gulliver are harmless and know nothing about the hypothesis. Still, they refuse and say he has to
complete the mission. Realizing the healing power of family intimacy and love, Andrew decides to stay
on earth at the cost of giving up his superhuman powers. Andrew, who has never experienced any
emotion, commitment and pain in his previous life, experiences these when he becomes human and tries
to adapt. Still, he cheats on Isobel one day, not knowing cheating is wrong. He suspects another alien
has been sent from his home planet to kill Isobel and Gulliver. He is convinced when his best friend Ari
is killed. When the alien tries to kill Gulliver and Isobel as the next mission, Andrew intervenes and kills
the alien. He leaves his family and moves to California because he thinks staying with Isobel and Gulliver
will hurt them, and he thinks they will not believe his story. He has built an isolated and a quiet life for
himself, but his longing for Isobel never goes away. When he goes to England for a conference, he
apologizes to Isobel and attempts to be a family again.
Back to Pythagoras; the Great Transformation Beginning with Pythagoras
With Pythagoras stepping into philosophy, philosophy has become a way of life rather than the search
for the primary substance or the questions of why and how the universe came into existence. The main
goal of Pythagoras is to protect and save humanity in the light of science and philosophical views rather
than seeking answers to these questions about the universe or nature. He was born on the island of
Samos in the 590s (B.C.) and it is known that he has many teachings in the philosophical and scientific
world. Pythagoras believes that animals, like humans, have souls and that souls will be judged for their
sins (Morrison, 1956: 136). The most famous of his teachings is the doctrine of transmigration.
According to him, the soul is a separate entity from the body, superior to the body, a substance in its
own right. It has the potential to transition into the body of another human or animal in this world.
Many bodies are successive dwellings of souls (Luchte, 2009: 6). For this reason, Pythagoras forbids his
followers to eat meat. The human soul, which can pass from body to body, can be in an animal body at
that moment. The soul in the animal body may belong to a dead person or an animal. And this requires
a gentle approach to animals. This approach has opened the door to the belief in vegetarianism. Kerry
S. Walters argues that vegetarianism has been a lifestyle for thousands of years, and appeared first with
Pythagoras, who first defended staying away from animals (1999, p. 12).
Another teaching of Pythagoras, known as the creator of arithmetic in the Greek world, is related to the
science of music and sound theory. Pythagoras and his followers used music to protect and purify mental
health as people take medicine to protect their physical health. He is said to be the creator of acoustics.
He realized that music and mathematics are united around the same goal (Bibby, 2006: 14). Based on
the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 and the ratios between them, he discovered that at that time only the sound
ranges that the sensitive ear of musicians could detect empirically and practically could be expressed
with a mathematical expression (Arslan, 2022, p. 149). Based on this, he formed the doctrine that the
primary substance of the universe is numbers. The universe and its contents are made up of numbers
and can express everything with numbers. Putting numbers at the centre of his life, Pythagoras sought
numbers and harmony in the universe. He also describes the harmony in the universe with music.
According to him, harmony consists of opposites, and the universe is the cosmos, which means harmony.
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In fact, contrary to the established assumptions of his time, Pythagoras argued that the entire universe
had been created according to a mathematical harmony, and that therefore there were numerical
principles at the origin of everything. (Tarhan, 2020, p. 4)
One of the most debated topics of philosophy is the universe, also known as the cosmos. The first name
known as the founder of
oras, who linked many
made use of mathematics in doing so, also had remarkable ideas about the functioning of life in the
universe. The great philosopher also believed that the two elements are the foundation of everything in
nd all these have something
in deep.
on the issue as follows:
fire, which is at the center. According to Pythagoras, the number is the union of the limited and the
composed of fire and air. The basis of everything is number, and the basis of number is unlimited and
limited. The basis of the number is air and fire. Limited (fire) is the active one. Unlimited (air)
represents more passive things. He takes this example from sperm and egg. Like the sperm fertilizing
the egg. Fire is the active substance in them. Limited and unlimited combine to form 1. But this
formation of the universe continues with some interpretations of numbers and the meanings assigned
to each number. Intricately, some profound thoughts and claims have been debated for centuries. As
one of the greatest physiologists of ancient Ionia and whose name is also identified with the science of
mathematics is also one of the most influential names in western philosophy. Pythagoras, whose
thoughts led to the establishment of a system of study such as Pythagoreanism, also created a school
arguing that everything is related and related to mathematics with the Pythagorean Theorem. This
school had important students and defenders of the idea and gave a name to a highly appreciated
formation. Pythagoras, who influenced not only the West but also the thoughts of names such as Plato
and Aristotle, can be the basis and influence different thoughts, studies and discussions even today. So
much so that it is possible to see his traces even in recent fiction. Although legends have overshadowed
much of what is told about Pythagoras, it has inevitably affected the scholar and his teachings and led to
different interpretations. Despite this, Pythagoras is one of the names that cannot be thought of and
Haig visits Pythagoras
The Humans, which contains more than its envisaged influence and indirect
everyone who read the book, even the back cover commentary, commented that it could be interpreted
as a myth, attracted attention as one of the successful fictions created between fiction and reality. The
novel, which everyone who read, even the back cover commentary, interpreted as a myth, attracts
attention as one of the significant works created between fiction and reality. The Humans, which drew
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View in PDF(opens in a new window)the attention of powerful platforms and organizations related to literature shortly after its publication
and found a place among the most-read books, can be considered philosophically based fiction. Arousing
the interest of powerful platforms and organizations related to literature shortly after its publication and
finding a place among the most-read books, The Humans may be considered philosophically based
fiction. One of the essential richness of the novel, which can be defined as a novel about human beings
in its essence and an alien finding the details that make humans the natural human, is that it has sections
that frequently refer to Pythagoras. All but two of these references are indirect. One of the essential
richness of the novel, which may be regarded as a text about humankind in its essence, is constructed
on an alien protagonist finding the details that make humans the natural human. Another noteworthy
feature of the novel is having frequent references to Pythagoras, all but two of which are indirect.
space who tries to manipulate the discovery of prime numbers. Finding the original document on the
computer and impersonating Andrew with identical physical characteristics, the alien reads the
following passage from the Zeta received copy:
r field, about Pythagoras and his
religious cult based on perfect geometry and other abstract mathematical forms, but if we are going
to have religion at all then a religion of mathematics seems ideal, because if God exists then what is he
(Haig, 2013, p. 58). This manifestation can be read as a funny detail within the
but a mathematic
fiction. Underneath the assumption that mathematics is a religion based on formulas and that a
mathematician is a God, some facts about Pythagoras are probably the background
As is known, Pythagoras is seen as the founder of a school of thought, and at the center of many of his
works, there are kinds of calculation that begin with the square root of two and the studies and
discussions shaped around it. This school of thought was also based on the knowledge that all numbers
are composed of integers and rational numbers. In this sense, the square root of two is critical in this
calculation. However, it is stated that Hippasus had a regrettable incident
students put forward a different approach to this issue and questioned the 3-4-5 relationship between
the sides of the triangle. It is said that Hippasus was thrown into the sea and killed by Pythagoras (and,
according to some interpretations, by his students) after he made some inquiries and made a question
and suggestion that would disrupt this set of equations. The justification behind this is presented with
conclusion of Hippasus would
the other students of Pythagoras took Hippasus out to sea and threw him and his irrational ideas
(Yanofsky, 201
philosophy, and the damage to mathematical ideas, which are seen as a religion, is envisioned as a
catastrophe. If the undermining of faith means undermining authority, the removal of this name means
preserving authority. Therefore, in the above quotation given under the title
Hypothesis
a murder involving Pythagoras in jest. Although the execution is different, in the book, a murder is
committed based on accessing and questioning knowledge.
Moreover, this murder is very similar to the murder of his student attributed to Pythagoras. Namely,
Hippasus, who inquired on the sides of a triangle and the square root of two, is thrown into the sea and
killed. Because this questioning could be a match struck at the foundation of an idea that took many
years to be grounded. In The Humans, Haig commits the same murder at the hands of an alien who
replaces Prof. Andrew Martin and comes to earth with the same physical characteristics as him. The fake
Andrew has learned that the original Andrew has solved the unknown formula for prime numbers and
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that humankind has accessed the secret that will change the course of the world. More precisely, people
living in a universe beyond the world have acquired this knowledge. According to them, it is dangerous
for humans to access this knowledge, and anyone who uncovers the mystery must be eliminated.
Becau
-1/4(-t2and greets
The alien and new Prof. Andrew, sent to earth to discover this formula and prevent its spread, starts by
erasing the records of the actual professor who was murdered. While erasing these records, he sees that
the professor has already shared this knowledge with another math professor named Daniel Russell.
Russell, who works at the University of Cambridge, has become a new target because of this information.
After gathering some information, he learns the details of her relationship with Russell, goes to her
house and kills her because she knows the details of the hypothesis. Just as Pythagoras killed Hippasus,
the alien disguised as Professor Andrew kills Russell, who knows the secret of the formula:
He lurched backward, bumping into his desk. I was, to his eyes, Andrew Martin again. But he had
seen what he had seen. I only had a second before he would begin screaming, so I paralyzed his jaw.
Somewhere below the panic of his bulging eyes, there was a question: how did he do that? To finish
the job properly I would need another contact: my left hand on his shoulder was sufficient. Then the
pain began. The pain I had summoned. He held his arm. His face became violet. The color of the
home. I had pain too. Head pain. And fatigue. But I walked past him as he dropped to his knees and
deleted the email and the attachment. I checked his sent folder, but there was nothing suspicious.
(p.84)
is not the end and that he must access mo
Although the murder of Professor Russell does not leave any impact, the event lights the first sparks of
the transformation to humanity at the end of the book. Although the murder of Professor Russell does
suffered as he was about to die, and the tremendous pain and grief experienced by his wife immediately
afterward all lead to some emotions in the alien, yet he is not sure about it. Then the unraveling and
transformation begin.
Another episode in which Pythagoras is visible is when the fake Prof. Andrew is locked up in a hospital
due to his strange behavior. After his peculiar behavior and harmful surroundings, he is thought to have
a mental disorder and is hospitalized. People in the hospital have psychological disorders. He meets a
young girl, Zoe, in his hospital bed. She recognizes him, but he does not. Meanwhile, trying to discover
whether he knows her through a few dialogues, his mathematics studies help the subject progress. Just
as the conversation on mathematics begins, the following dialog passes between them:
I mean, Pythagoras sounded like a bit of a dude, but, no, I m not really
ber-big on numbers. I m philosophy. That s probably why I m in here. OD d on Schopenhauer.
o be doing an essay on it.
Basically, it says that the world is what we recognize in our own will. Humans are ruled by their basic
desires, and this leads to suffering and pain because our desires make us crave things from the world,
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View in PDF(opens in a new window)but the World is nothing but representation. Because those same cravings shape what we see, we end
-42)
The sentence,
(p.41) by Zoe suggests that it is known that
Pythagoras was an outstanding thinker. Nevertheless, he needs to provide more information. Being
aware of this, the author makes it interesting with different philosophical and sociological references
rather than putting Pythagoras in the foreground. One is about Schopenhauer, mentioned in the same
paragraph as Pythagoras. When Zoe talks about Schopenhauer, she says that man is ruled by his desires,
and as a result, man suffers. It is possible in thought and practice to relate this statement directly to
beginning and cannot make sense of what people feel at the thought of an alien, prefers to turn into a
person ruled by his desires. He does this even knowing that he will suffer. The alien, who comes to earth
on a mission, wants to live in this designed world (according to Schopenhauer) despite the realities. In
the end, after the failure of those on the planet he comes from to fulfill the mission, the mortality will
turn after he decides to turn into a human being and the suffering of human beings. The alien, who
discovers the deep meaning of being human despite the endless desires and self-consuming process of
humans, replaces Prof. Andrew, who is e
In the other parts of the work, no sections refer directly to Pythagoras and his views. However, many
passages can be directly linked to the ideas that refer to Pythagoras and indirectly point to him. In this
sense, although it is not known whether Haig deliberately shapes his work within the framework of
The Humans with different genres, approaches, theories, and currents of thought
in literature. Many of the studies have been realized in this manner. However, the Pythagorean influence
based on his work is an essential topic that needs to be visible. Even the writing of a novel based solely
around a piece of knowledge and thought about prime numbers would be the most prominent and
beginning.
Examining the universe from a rational point of view, Pythagoras is a mathematician who also explores
the order within the universe in terms of numbers, especially prime numbers. However, this connection
with mathematics may be a misinterpretation to limit him to a mathematician, for Pythagoras was not
only a mathematician but also a philosopher with a considerable historical record. Moreover, Pythagoras
used in this sense. This naming is described as follows:
As a young man from a prosperous family, Pythagoras was educated by the mystic Pherekydes and
the founders of the Ionian school, Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes of Miletus, who influenced
him greatly. Like Pherekydes and the Ionians, Pythagoras mixed myth and logic, theology, and the
search for wisdom. Yet Pythagoras also demanded of wisdom that it should be a rule of life. With his
amazing breadth of outlook, he constructed a system combining thought and conduct, to provide a
rational explanation of the universe and also satisfy the religious craving for union with the divine.
except God. Thus, he invente
(Violin, 1990, p.122)
Pythagoras, who identifies wisdom with God and defines himself as a philosopher, puts forward many
ideas and theses that would cause and support his acceptance as a physiologist. One of these is about
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is very much at the center of the belief system, also there is a system of principles, and within this system,
numbers and the concepts formed by numbers all have deep meanings:
Pythagoras expressed his thoughts and ideas using words and symbols rather than numbers as we
know them today. Instead, his ideas were based on many of the ideas we associate with numbers
today. For example, a point is the essence of a circle. A series of symbolic forms were constructed to
reflect the concepts of the universe. Mathematical philosophers created these symbolic
representations using compasses, straightedges, and writing instruments. (Hobgood, n.d.)
Prime numbers, unsolvable equations, the nineteenth-century German genius Bernard Riemann, and
many other details are frequently found between the lines of the novel. These are the details that link
story created in the novel, people living on another planet have
solved the secret of prime numbers, but people living on Earth have not. Thanks to cracking the secret,
aliens can simultaneously transfer thousands of pages of information into their minds, travel rapidly
between universes, and have bionic abilities and all other differences. However, the aliens think that
humankind will pose a severe danger due to this discovery. As a result, the fact that prime numbers are
the main problem of humans is emphasized in the world. The alien who comes to Earth realizes that
people are seriously thinking about these numbers and learns that many names have gone crazy in the
past to reach the mystery of the prime numbers. When he learns this, he shares the following details:
Primes, quite literally, sent people insane, particularly as so many puzzles remained. They knew a
prime was a whole number that could only be divided by one or itself, but after that they hit all kinds
of problems. For instance, they knew that the total of all primes was precisely the same as the total of
all numbers, as both were infinite. This was, for a human, a very puzzling fact, as surely there must
be more numbers than prime numbers. So impossible was this to come to terms with; some people,
contemplating it, placed a gun into their mouth, pulled the trigger, and blew their brains out. (Haig,
2013, p. 58)
After living in the world for a while, the alien makes some conclusions about the world. The first
detection is that humankind has also made progress in numbers in a sense. For example, the information
weather is shared in many sections. Nevertheless, the essential information that will untie the knot has
yet to be reached. Although people know about the atom, the atoms that make up the molecule, and
many other things, they are deprived of some things:
However, people had struggled to explain the apparently random pattern of primes. They thinned
out, but not in any way that humans could fathom. This frustrated the humans very much. They knew
that if they could solve this they could advance in all kinds of ways, because prime numbers were the
heart of mathematics and mathematics was the heart of knowledge. (p.58)
far beyond the possible variations. In his system of thought, every number has a meaning, and when
these meanings come together, they form the main idea or meaning. Numbers are included from
unlimited air and limited fire and each number has a meaning:
Not surprisingly, the number 1 is generally considered a symbol of unity. The number 2 symbolizes
many of the fundamental dualities. The number 3 is a very mystical and spiritual number featured in
many folktales (three wishes, three guesses, three little pigs, three bears, three billy goats gruff). The
number of order in the universe is 4 the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water; the four seasons;
the four points of the compass; the four phases of the Moon (new, half-moon waxing, full, half-moon
waning). The sum of the first even and odd numbers (2 + 3) is 5. (To the Pythagoreans 1 was not a
number and was not odd.) By a wonderful conjunction of mathematical coincidences, 6 is both the
the material 4 is 7. In medieval education, students pursued the trivium (grammar, rhetoric, and
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View in PDF(opens in a new window)logic) and the quadrivium (music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy), a total of seven subjects,
collectively known as the liberal arts. The number 8 is generally considered to be an auspicious
number by numerologists. In contrast to 8, the number 9 often represents pain or sadness. As already
stated, 10 was the Pythagorean symbol of perfection or completeness. Humans have ten fingers and
ten toes. Counting on fingers probably led to the decimal number system, with its symbols 0 9 and
its place values whereby the 7 in 703 counts as 7 hundred, but in 173 it is 7 tens and in 507 it is 7 units.
(Tikkanen, n.d.)
All these numbers, multiplications, and other calculations clearly show that numbers are of great
e and creation. Numbers are brought together with vital
factors such as fire and air and placed at the center of life. Not but what, Pythagoras asserts that it is
quantities that made and created everything. Pythagoras also had faith that everything was composed
of amounts. Since everything is composed of numbers, mathematical expressions allow us to
comprehend the workings of the cosmos. The foundation of modern science is this. Some conclude that
the universe and the human soul have the same structure since the universe is thought to have a
mathematical form.
Pythagoras is the connection between numbers and music and the treatment of this subject in The
Humans. In this regard, it is possible to find interesting information that combines Pythagoras with The
Humans and the science of mathematics with music. Pythagoras, the pioneer of many ideas and the
inventor of many firsts in his time, is also considered the first in music. Music is among the doctrines
background of the beginning of music theory:
- a combination of dance,
poetry, and music. What we call the art of autonomy of sublime sound forms was generally absent in
Greece during the classical period. Two essences of music: 1) spiritual - artistic and 2) naturalphysical - were strangely recognized by the Greeks: on the one hand, it was presented as a gift from
the gods (according to legend - a gift from Apollo and Muses to humans) and on the other - as a
theoretical understanding of the numerical principles of musical harmony by the legendary scientist
Pythagoras (the story of the hammers he heard in the forge3). The combination of divine and earthly,
spiritual and sound, inspiration and technic
-11, cited in Orujov-Orujova 2020, p. 996).
The
As reported,
striking the anvil, and various sounds are created with this striking. This series of sounds attracted
sounds and tries to make sense of them.
Then he makes requests to the blacksmith. He asks the blacksmith to strike the hammer more slowly or
harder. After these experiments, he realizes that the mass of the hammer, not its intensity, makes a
difference in the change of sound. Interpretations that combine this with the symbols and notes in
These mathematical ratios, discovered and organized by Pythagoras
and his students, have helped define every intonation system throughout history. (Gedik, 2021)
Moreover, it is known that there is a difference between the thickness of a C struck with a heavy hammer
and the C produced by a light hammer. A hammer with a lighter mass causes a thin C. The situation is
continued with a mathematical calculation and mathematical meanings such as the ratio of 1 to 2 or the
percentage of one number to another. By conducting many experiments like this, he explained music
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with mathematics and formed the basis of his views on establishing a connection between the two
sciences. The relationship between mathematics and music was found in this period:
Although Pythagoras is best known for his mathematical theorem, he also made extraordinary
advances in astronomy and geometry. He also developed a theory of music and founded a school of
according to the University of St. Andrews. While playing his lyre, an ancient Greek stringed
instrument, Pythagoras discovered that when the string lengths were integers, the vibrating strings
produced a pleasant sound and that this was true for other instruments as well. He combined this
discovery with his understanding of the planets and devised the theory that when the planets are in
This music theory and the discovery of the expression of music by a system have created a relationship
ies in this sense have been interpreted as
the search for the beautiful, not the true, in music; on the other hand, in mathematics, it has been
concluded that the true, not the beautiful, is sought. Despite these differences, it was stated that there
should be a search and accumulation in both fields. These differences between the two sciences could
For this reason, in Ancient Greece, music was classified among the four main sciences, including
mathematics. In addition to music and mathematics, the Pythagorean school also included geometry
and astronomy in this group, placing these four sciences at the center of life.
In The Humans, Haig has created a fiction centered entirely on these sciences. The alien from an
extraterrestrial planet does not only tell the story of killing a human and replacing him. He also gains
impressions about the existence of the world, astronomy, geometry, mathematics, music, art, literature,
and many other fields. Virtually, at the center of his visit to Earth is a door that numbers will open for
humans after a hypothesis is solved and will provide unlimited possibilities. This door wanted to be
closed. However, while this is done, the alien discovers human beings and the beauties that make them
human. Prof. Andrew Martin is replaced with someone who does not like music and reads poems. On
the other hand, the alien is a man who is supposed to be devoid of emotions, shows a serious interest in
music and poetry bizarrely. He discovers this interest in an episode titled Dog and Music. After arriving
on Earth, the alien professor experiences a series of events and has to rest at home, and so does. During
the day, only he and his dog are at home. At first, he does not like the dog Newton, but he starts a dialog
with him in time. Then his interest in music begins. One day he turns on music while sitting at home.
He listens to
by the artist Gustav Holst. Interestingly, it is shared that this song is about
the solar system. Then he listens to songs and music about the sun, the Earth, astronomy, and the
planets. Then he listens to more different music. Finally, after listening to music one after the other, he
emphasizes the beautiful side of music and shares the following words:
I was intrigued to discover the sounds that could make it on to music
the strange talking radio voice
the end of Tom Waits songs. Maybe that is what beauty was, for humans. Accidents, imperfections,
placed inside a pretty pattern. Asymmetry. The defiance of mathematics. I thought about my speech
at the Museum of Quadratic Equations. With the Beach Boys I got a strange feeling, behind my eyes
and in my stomach. I had no idea what that feeling was, but it made me think of Isobel, and the way
she had hugged me last night, after I had come home and told her Daniel Russell had suffered a fatal
heart attack in front of me. (Haig, 2013, p. 91)
views on the relationship and harmony of music with mathematics. An alien specializing in
mathematics, who has solved all the secrets of mathematics, also loves music, the output of a harmony
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View in PDF(opens in a new window)system, and becomes addicted to it. That kind of change attracts the attention of his wife, Isobel, who
knows that her husband never listens to music. Unaware that her husband has been killed and replaced
by an alien who looks exactly like him, Isobel marvels at his listening to music, eating peanut butter, and
changing habits. One of these surprises is that her husband, Andrew, who used to eat meat, has suddenly
become a vegetarian. The conversation between the two about making meat dishes is presented as
follows:
-
The dog was in his basket.
I could have done so, of course. But I needed what strength I had right now.
So I humoured her.
I unscrewed the cap and placed a pill on my palm. These ones looked like
word-capsules. As green as knowledge. I popped a tablet in my mouth. (p.73)
There are several dialogues and various interrogations of the alien about humans eating meat. In
particular, he finds it very strange that humans eat meat, and he shares comments that reveal his
amazement about it. At one point, the alien shares a passage about the peculiar behavior of humans:
When I first arrived here I needed help understanding certain things. For instance, I needed
clarification on why clothes were so important. Or why a dead cow became beef, or why grass cut a
certain way demanded not to be walked upon, or why household pets were so important to them. The
humans are scared of nature, and are greatly reassured when they can prove to themselves they have
mastery over it. This is why lawns exist, and why wolves evolved into dogs, and why their architecture
is based on unnatural shapes. But nature, pure nature, is just a symbol to them. A symbol of human
nature. They are interchangeable. (p.114)
k are put side by side, it is obvious that this is not casual questioning.
are also behind the strange notion of humans consuming meat. Namely, in Pythagor
is the idea of reincarnation. In other words, he believes there is a transition process from one soul to
another. Therefore, it may be asserted that according to Pythagoras, the soul constantly moves around
the world and passes from one body to another. This soul can also pass from human to animal. As
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B.
Pythagoras and the followers of his school believed that the soul could move from a human to an animal,
they did not eat animal meat and did not deem it appropriate. Therefore, Pythagoras, who is believed to
have spoken with Zoroaster and had serious discussions with him before the formation of this idea, is
considered to be one of the pioneers of vegetarian nutrition:
Pythagoras, a Greek philosopher and mathematician, is thought to have made a connection between
reincarnation and vegetarianism. In the 19th century, many philosophers and scientists were
influenced by his views and adopted a vegetarian diet. Pythagoras is also considered the father of
ethical vegetarianism (being vegetarian for ethical reasons). However, the reasons for adopting a
vegetarian diet have changed over the past 2500 years. In ancient Greece, they believed that animals
could communicate with humans (Son & Bulut, 2016, p. 832).
The
Humans, one of the most widely read books of recent times, thoughts, ideas, and even philosophy from
thousands of years ago have formed a foundation. The fact that Pythagoreans did not consume meat is
one of the details that form this foundation. A series of details like this have been presented and tried to
losophy
The Humans. However, it is unknown whether the author put Pythagorean thought
in front of him and shaped the fiction around it.
As a result, the prime number system, the secret of prime numbers, the relationship between
mathematics and music, and the views revealing that mathematics is at the center of the universe have
The Humans, both the transformation of a
creature from outer space into a human being and the choice of an alien with all the possibilities to live
in a world are shared as a lesson or a conclusion about philosophy and understanding human beings,
which can be considered as one of the essential details that make the book rich in philosophical terms.
While this idea creates a relationship between the novel and Pythagoras, it turns into a horse of another
makes the same soul wander between the same two bodies. In a sense, it becomes a process like different
ith
Pythagorean thought but reflected differently in the novel.
Conclusion
The Humans is a fiction based on the different meanings of being human. It is a work that
can be evaluated at the point where an alien comes to earth and learns the details about the creation of
human beings, arrives on earth with a heavy prejudice about humans, turns into a human being, and
fiction, has already become th
innovative way of thinking and writing has led him to be at the forefront of many awards and award
nominations. However, people are not the most critical aspect that constitutes the subject and purpose
of this study. Indeed, in the end, despite the evil in human beings and the mortality of humanity, the
transformation of human beings has a significant meaning.
Nevertheless, the main point that makes the work more important and valuable is that the projections
meanings. Matt Haig has placed
Pythagoras at the center of his work by giving the reader only a few clues. Pythagoras, the first name
that comes to mind when one thinks of a philosopher, the first to use the term philosopher as a title, is
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View in PDF(opens in a new window)one of the most important names in the history of philosophy. However, he is more commonly associated
with mathematics. Pythagoras defined himself as a person who seeks knowledge and tries to reach
knowledge by hesitating to put himself in the place of God even though mathematics seems like a religion
due to his thoughts and the school he founded, which has become almost a cult due to his fundamental
numerical analysis, especially his theorem. Despite the law chance, he has been the pioneer of concepts
that are discussed even today. In this respect, Pythagoras, who had a share in the formation of ideas
such as the first vegetarian thought settling in human life, the first transformation of music into a
system, and especially the fact that his work on mathematics changed the fate of humanity, is actually
at the very center of the work with these aspects. Matt Haig uses all these ideas of Pythagoras as hidden
building blocks at the center of his fiction while constructing The Humans. These Pythagoras-related
narratives, which add an austere depth to his fiction, reinforce his search for human beings and create
s of thought, the
connections are made so strong that many of the actions and thoughts put forward are now thought to
have a philosophical approach. This study, written based on many connections and ideas, is based on
one of the high-level fictions
level fiction are discussed in a single study and revealed with many examples. 4
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