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MAA Newsletter
Boston University A AU. 5 (>)
THE ROLE OF MATHEMATICS IN PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION: THE PYTHAGOREANS
Evonne Noble
f you hear a reference to
Pythagoras, you probably think
of the theorem credited in name to
him. Less common knowledge is
that the famous
a?+b?=c?
was well known by the
Babylonians almost 100 years
before Pythagoras’ time (500
B.C.), and developed
independently by numerous other
mathematicians. Interestingly,
Pythagoras’ most significant
mathematical and philosophical
world “as one” through the
history?
magical harmony of numbers that
Little is actually known
about Pythagoras, and the
knowledge we do have is
obscured by the practice of his
followers of crediting him with
much of the work that was done
within the Pythagorean society.
And it was very much a society,
rather than an academic school.
influenced later religious and
philosophical thought. The
common ancestor of religion and
mathematic thought may surprise
us; it is easy to limit math to “the
tangible” and the concrete, and
view religion as existing only in
the realm of faith. But the
Pythagoreans had faith in
historical contributions were his
highly structured and secretive
numbers to explain the harmony
they saw in the world, and
discovery of irrational numbers
cult lifestyle. The Greek society
devoutly studied mathematics and
and the influence on later
of Pythagoras’ time was calling
the properties of numbers,
philosophical and religious
out of a polytheistic tradition,
especially their discovery of the
thought. Pythagoras founded a
(recall the Mount Olympus and
mysterious property of
school which fostered generations
the multitude of Greek gods from
irrationality that Pythagoras saw
of thinkers who studied the
Zeus to Athena) and it was the
in the number square of two.
mystical properties of numbers;
redirection from polytheism to
the ideas of his followers changed
monotheism that Pythagoras and
roots of these seemingly
the direction of philosophy and
his followers are credited with.
unrelated subjects? Perhaps not.
influenced the development of
The Pythagoreans believed that
Religion, philosophy, and math
early Christianity.
there was unifying aspect of the
are just different means of
From our westernized
The Pythagoreans practiced a
Surprised by the shared
universe and that “all was
understanding the world around
standpoint, it may be hard to
number.” Philosophers reacted to
us. Our deeply secularized
imagine that religion, philosophy,
this shift from understanding the
western society delegates religion
and mathematics were all once a
world as “multitudes” in the
out of the public and into the
single discipline. But the origins of
these seemingly differently
image of the many Greek and
private sphere, sometimes making
Roman gods to and
subjects begin together in the
understanding of continuity and
it difficult to imagine a time when
religious and scientific thought
Greeks. Pythagoras and his school
“oneness.”
were one. As a math student I
of followers, the Pythagoreans,
In the history of religious
thought, the virtues of Plato and
know that for me faith usually
greatly influenced the thought of
later Greeks, Plato and Aristotle,
his student Aristotle are thought
has little to do with math until the
night before a big exam, But the
lo define the development of
Christianity. They, and most
Pythagoreans allowed them to
great thinkers reacted to them as
they had in turn reacted to the
early Christian scholars and
study math and religion as one.*
ideas of the Pythagoreans. But
thought out of the Pythagorean
who are seen as the fathers of
Western thought. All subsequent
saints like St. Justin develop their
who are these mysterious people
tradition. It was the
with such great influence in
Pythagoreans’ perception of the
mystical lifestyle of the