Pythagoras
530 B.C.
§ Reality is mathematical, as evidenced by the harmonic ratios (octave [2:1] fifth [3:2] and fourth [4:3].
§ Transmigration of souls: each a breath of the world soul locked up in a body. Abstract inquiry frees us.
§ Earth's a sphere & not at the center.
§ "Fire is composed of twenty four right angled triangles surrounded by four equilaterals."
§ "The square on the hypoteneuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares on the two adjacent sides."
Parmenides.
465 B.C
§ What is -- the One -- is uncreated, indestructible, eternal & unchanging (and intelligible).
§ Sensed change is illusory.
§ There is no becoming since the coming to be must be either (1) from being or (2) from not being:
§ If (1) there is no becoming (since it already is)
§ If (2) there is no becoming (ex nihilo nihil fit)
§ "What is is." "What is not, is not."
§ "What need could have made it arise later rather than sooner? Therefore must it either be all together or not at all."
§ “On path only is left for us to speak of, namely that It is. In this path … what is, is uncreated and indescructible, for it is complete, immovable, and without end.
