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3. The beginning of Philosophy (Pythagoras and the Divinity of Number)
Pythagoras was born on the island of Samos in or about 570 B.C and was perhaps the first to call himself a "philosopher." He traveled in Egypt and possibly in India, where he may have adopted his ascetic practices and the belief in transmigration of souls. In the course of his long and productive life, he would find a sect that formed around his teaching, would assume the political leadership of the city of Crotona, and would lay claim to an astonishing number of original discoveries, including the theorem that bears his name as well as the musical scale.
For Pythagoras, the ultimate reality was abstract and relational, depending on number: the for integers 1, 2, 3, 4 were quasi-divine generating entities. Pythagoras's teachings were to exert a strong influence for centuries, but markedly on Socrates, at least as Socrates is presented in the dialogues of Plato. This influence is seen in the Socratic theories that investigation of natural phenomena will always lead to the abstract, that abstractions such as number and form are capable of generating physical reality.
a2 + b2 = c2