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    Carmelics

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    Made withinDC&Austin
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    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that It is a mistake to assume that any mention of mathematics in Plato indicates Pythagorean influence.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.The role of Pythagoreanism in Greek mathematics has been overstated.
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    • 2.The most prominent mathematicians in Plato's dialogues, Theodorus and Theaetetus, are not Pythagoreans.
      ?

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    • 3.Although Plato had contact with Pythagorean mathematicians such as Archytas, this contact does not make mathematics in the dialogues broadly Pythagorean.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Plato's mathematical philosophy in the Republic and Meno draws on the Socratic method of recollection and dialectic, not Pythagorean numerology.
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    • 2.The Forms as mathematical objects in Plato derive from his own theory of participation, which differs structurally from Pythagorean number-as-substance doctrines.
      ?

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    • 3.Walter Burkert's landmark 1972 study demonstrated that many supposed Pythagorean mathematical doctrines were actually later Platonist retrojections onto the tradition.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Independent mathematical traditions flourished in fifth-century Athens through figures like Hippocrates of Chios, providing non-Pythagorean sources for Plato's mathematical interests.
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    • 2.Plato's treatment of mathematical objects as intermediaries between Forms and particulars has no clear precedent in surviving Pythagorean texts, indicating original development.
      ?

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