The name of Pythagoras is renowned throughout the Greek history, as he is the most influential of all Greek philosophers. The earliest source concerning his life is that he was born in Athens. His father, Hippias, was a teacher of philosophy. His mother, Hyperpilia, became a priestess. The family moved to Cleonae where Pythagoras taught mathematics at the school of Dyonnis and Ionion.
The historical facts about the life of Pythagoras are difficult to verify. Though he may have taught in the school of Dyonnis, it is quite unlikely that he was a pupil of Plato, though he may have been in close contact with him and wrote about Plato’s teachings. The historical evidence points towards a school of Platonism, probably at Athens, that flourished c. 411 B.C., although this seems improbable because the term Platonism is not found in any literary work of the period and is not attested.
The earliest writings concerning Pythagoras, his philosophy, and music are statements attributed to him by his student, Charmides, in his Charmades, a play written during the thirty-eighth Olympion. His concept of infinity was different from the views held by the other Greek thinkers of the time and he also developed an enriched system of aesthetics that was influenced by the works of the Greek lyricists, the Sophoclean Philokalia, and the lyric poets. It is evident from the writings of Aristotle and Plato, that Pythagoras was interested in music and was particularly skilled in the theory of melody, which he was able to give a detailed explanation in the Charmades.
It is therefore not surprising that the ideas of the great philosophers should influence the development of the Pythagorean theory of music. In fact, it was probably this connection with the teachings of Plato that led him to make an important contribution to the development of Platonism. It must be noted, however, that in the Phaedrus and the Lacedaemon, Plato and the other Greek philosophers did not discuss the nature of sounds. This is perhaps one of the major differences between the Phaedrus and the Lacedaemon that have led to many misunderstandings concerning the nature of Plato’s concept of Platonism. On the other hand, if we were to look at the ideas of Aristotle on the nature of sound and compare them with the views of the great philosopher Plato on the subject, it is not difficult to see how an affinity can be established between the two.
One of the most important teachings of the Phaedrus, as related by Plato, was that there is no meaning in talking about “no-aught” and “no-effect.” For Platonists, knowledge and reality are one and the same thing. What is known as “no-effect” is nothing more than an accidental result of our intellectual construction. For the Phaedrus, all knowledge is ultimately unknowable and pure abstractness. To the Phaedrus, everything is pure and simple. Thus, in the Phaedrus, the concepts of “know” and “use” are entirely unrelated.
On the other hand, the Lacedaemonians argue that being in the world means being a part of the entire structure known as reality. They maintain that there is such a thing as absolute reality, which is not affected by external stimuli and which cannot be affected by any change in the conditions of the world. According to the Lacedaemonians, even the gods are nothing but complex forms of energy. In this sense, it is possible for there to be no known cause.
In his ideal state, all reality is pure, simple, and original, and every single thing is perfect in its own way. According to the Platonists, all physical reality is pure idea. The Phaedrus believes that Parmenides’ ideal world is nothing other than the mathematical reality of geometry and the plane. This world is nothing other than the four corners of the earth on which the heavenly spheres exist. The Lacedaemonian philosophers maintained that all physical reality is the idea. The Phaedrus believed that there are no ideas but only atoms and that there are no atoms but only empty space.
In southern Italy, the famous Pythagoras had many discussions with his disciples concerning the nature of life and death. It is said that he often asked them the question, “Do you believe that life is short while death is everlasting?” The common reply given was “Pythagoras, there is no difference between life and death.”