The Theoretic Arithmetic of the Pythagoreans: v. 30 (Thomas Taylor S.) - Hardcover

Taylor, Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1898910294 ISBN 13: 9781898910299

Publisher: Prometheus Trust, 2006

Synopsis

Of the works included in this volume the "Theoretic Arithmetic of the Pythagoreans" (first published in 1816) is the most extensive: as a summary of the philosophic and mystical properties of number and mathematical operations there has been nothing published in the modern age which approaches its comprehensive scope or its profundity. The Theoretic Arithmetic blazes with the bright light of true thought which eclipses the numerous modern books on number which, if esoteric, so often are mere listings of associations of numbered things; or which, if exoteric, are little more than a series of measurements. The smallest work, on the other hand, is the "Medicina Mentis": in little more than a dozen pages it manages to cover the whole sweep of the divine procession which overflows from The One. The three other treatises which complete this volume ("Dissertations on Infinites", "On Nullities", and "On a New System of Arithmetic Notation") somewhat overlap each other and the material of the Theoretic Arithmetic, but each has important insights to offer the student who is willing to peruse them.

About this title

About the Author

Thomas Taylor (1758 - 1835), known as the English Platonist, was the first to translate into English the complete works of Plato and Aristotle. He also translated many of the later Platonists and also some of the remaining fragments of the earliest Greek writings, such as the Orphics, and the Pythagoreans. These translations, together with his original works, represent the most comprehensive survey of the philosophical thought of European antiquity.

The great advantage to Taylor translations is that he works from within the Platonic tradition, being a convinced follower of this tradition. As scholarly as many other fine translations are, they often lack the depth of Taylor's because the subtle truths embedded in Platonic writings are only understood after the profoundest meditations.

The works included in this volume display not only the extraordinary grasp of Platonic-Pythagorean teaching which Taylor possessed, but also reveals the pathway which led to this intellectual prize. Thomas Taylor's first exploration of truth in his youth and early adulthood was through mathematics: it was only when he discovered that the early Greek writers of mathematics could only be properly understood when approached through Aristotle and Plato that he turned his attention to these philosophers, and those who followed them. It is doubtful whether there has been a better placed translator of Greek philosophy in the modern age to take up the task of unfolding the significance of number within Platonism. Whether or not there truly was the exhortation at the entrance of Plato's Academy, "Let none enter here, who do not geometrise," the sentiment was most ably met in the person of Thomas Taylor.

Edition details

• Publisher: Prometheus Trust
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1898910294
• ISBN 13: 9781898910299
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 382