Pythagoras

Philosopher
Pythagoras of Samos was an Ionian Greek philosopher, mathematician, and has been credited as
the founder of the movement called Pythagoreanism. Wikipedia
Born: 570 BC, Samos, Greece
Died: 495 BC, Metapontum
Full name: Pythagoras of Samos
Schools of thought: Pythagoreanism
Influenced by: Thales, Anaximander, Pherecydes of Syros

Background
Pythagoras of Samos (c. 570 - 490 B.C.) was an early Greek Pre-Socraticphilosopher and
mathematician from the Greek island of Samos.
He was the founder of the influential philosophical and religious movement or cult
called Pythagoreanism, and he was probably the first man to actually call himself a philosopher
(or lover of wisdom). Pythagoras (or in a broader sense thePythagoreans), allegedly exercised an
important influence on the work of Plato.
As a mathematician, he is known as the "father of numbers" or as the first pure
mathematician, and is best known for his Pythagorean Theorem on the relation between the
sides of a right triangle, the concept of square numbers and square roots, and the discovery of
the golden ratio.
Unfortunately, little is known for sure about him, (none of his original writings havesurvived,
and his followers usually published their own works in his name) and he remains something of
a mysterious figure. His secret society or brotherhood had a great effect on later esoteric
traditions such as Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry.

Contributions
The school that Pythagoras established at Croton was in some ways more of a secret
brotherhood or monastery. It was based on his religious teachings and was highly concerned
with the morality of society. Members were required to live ethically, love one another,
share political beliefs, practice pacifism, and devote themselves to the mathematics of nature.
They also abstained from meat, abjured personal property and observed a rule of
silence (called "echemythia"), the breaking of which was punishable by death, based on the
belief that if someone was in any doubt as to what to say, they shouldremain silent.
Pythagoras saw his religious and scientific views as inseparably interconnected. He believed in
the theory of metempsychosisor the transmigration of the soul and its reincarnation again and
again after death into the bodies of humans, animals or vegetables until it became moral (a belief
he may have learned from his one-time teacher Pherecydes of Syros, who is usually credited as
the first Greek to teach the transmigration of souls). He was one of the first to propose that
the thought processesand the soul were located in the brain and not the heart.
Another of Pythagoras' central beliefs was that the essence of being (and the stability of all
things that create the universe) can be found in the form of numbers, and that it can be
encountered through the study of mathematics. For instance, he believed that things
like health relied on a stable proportion of elements, with too much or too little of one thing
causing an imbalancethat makes a person unhealthy.

Pythagoras/Quotes
There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres.
Do not say a little in many words but a great deal in a few.
Concern should drive us into action and not into a depression. No man is free who cannot
control himself.

Aristotle (384322 B.C.E.)

Life
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagira, Chalkidice, on the
northern periphery of Classical Greece. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child,
whereafter Proxenus of Atarneus became his guardian. Wikipedia
Born: 384 BC, Stagira, Aristotelis, Greece
Died: 322 BC, Chalcis, Greece
Influenced: Ren Descartes, Al-Kindi, John Major, Albert of Saxony,more
Influenced
by: Plato, Socrates, Democritus, Epicurus, Hippocrates,Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, An
aximander, Zeno of Elea
Aristotle was born in 384 BCE at Stagirus, a now extinct Greek colony and
seaport on the coast of Thrace. His father Nichomachus was court physician to King
Amyntas of Macedonia, and from this began Aristotle's long association with the
Macedonian Court, which considerably influenced his life. While he was still a boy his
father died. At age 17 his guardian, Proxenus, sent him to Athens, the intellectual center
of the world, to complete his education. He joined the Academy and studied under Plato,
attending his lectures for a period of twenty years. In the later years of his association
with Plato and the Academy he began to lecture on his own account, especially on the
subject of rhetoric. At the death of Plato in 347, the pre-eminent ability of Aristotle would

seem to have designated him to succeed to the leadership of the Academy. But his
divergence from Plato's teaching was too great to make this possible, and Plato's nephew
Speusippus was chosen instead. At At the invitation of Philip of Macedonia he became
the tutor of his 13 year old son Alexander (later world conqueror); he did this for the next
five years. Both Philip and Alexander appear to have paid Aristotle high honor, and there
were stories that Aristotle was supplied by the Macedonian court, not only with funds for
teaching, but also with thousands of slaves to collect specimens for his studies in natural
science. These stories are probably false and certainly exaggerated.

2.Work
Aristotle is a towering figure in ancient Greek philosophy, making contributions to
logic,metaphysics, mathematics, physics, biology, botany, ethics, politics, agriculture, medicine,
dance and theatre. He was a student of Plato who in turn studied under Socrates. He was more
empirically-minded than Plato or Socrates and is famous for rejecting Plato's theory of forms.As
a prolific writer and polymath, Aristotle radically transformed most, if not all, areas of
knowledge he touched. It is no wonder that Aquinas referred to him simply as "The
Philosopher." In his lifetime, Aristotle wrote as many as 200 treatises, of which only 31 survive.
Unfortunately for us, these works are in the form of lecture notes and draft manuscripts never
intended for general readership, so they do not demonstrate his reputed polished prose style
which attracted many great followers, including the Roman Cicero. Aristotle was the first to
classify areas of human knowledge into distinct disciplines such as mathematics, biology, and
ethics. Some of these classifications are still used today.As the father of the field of logic, he was
the first to develop a formalized system for reasoning. Aristotle observed that the validity of any
argument can be determined by its structure rather than its content. A classic example of a valid
argument is his syllogism: All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore, Socrates is mortal.
Given the structure of this argument, as long as the premises are true, then the conclusion is also
guaranteed to be true. Aristotles brand of logic dominated this area of thought until the rise of
modern propositional logic and predicate logic 2000 years later.

.Aristotle/Quotes
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.

Thales
Philosopher
Thales of Miletus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, mathematician and astronomer from
Miletus in Asia Minor, current day Milet in Turkey and one of the Seven Sages of
Greece. Wikipedia
Born: Miletus, Turkey
Died: Miletus, Turkey
Areas of interest: Mathematics, Metaphysics, Ethics, Astronomy
Influenced: Anaximenes of Miletus, Pythagoras
Schools of thought: Milesian school, Ionian School, Naturalism
Thales of Miletus (c. 624 BCE c. 546 BCE) was an ancient (pre-Soctratic)
Greekphilosopherwho is often considered the first philosopher and the father of
Westernphilosophy. His approach to philosophical questions of course cannot
compare tomodern oreven later Greek philosophers, however, he is the first known
person to use natural explanations for natural phenomena rather than turning to
supernatural world and his example was followed by other Greek thinkers who
would give rise to philosophy both as a discipline and science. In addition to being
viewed as the beginner of Western philosophy, Thales of Miletus is also the first to
define general principles and develop hypotheses. He is therefore sometimes also
referred to as the father of science although this epithet is usually used in
reference to Democritus, another prominent ancient Greek philosopher who

formulated the atomic theory that states that all matter is composed of particles
called atoms.

Thales philosophical works

Thales of miletus is said to had written on the solstice and on the equinox, however, none of
the two works survived and some doubt that he left any written works. Even in antiquity, there
were some doubts about thales written works although some authors also connect him with the
nautical star guide. The latter, however, is highly unlikely to had been written by thales of
miletus considering that laertius tells us that the very same work is attributed to a lesser known
phokos of samos. But despite the scarcity of reliable evidence about thales of miletus, there is
little doubt about his at the time revolutionary approach to philosophical questions. In his
metaphysics, aristotle tells us that thales believed that everything comes out of water and that
the earth floats on water. And according to seneca, the philosopher used the floating earth theory
to explain earthquakes. This means that thales of miletus rejected the supernatural and mystical
theories that were used to explain various phenomena by his predecessors which justifies his
fame as the first philosopher. He is the first known thinker to abandon the supernatural agenda
but he is also the first known thinker to try to explain the world by a unifying hypothesis.
Thales/Quotes
The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.
Nothing is more active than thought, for it travels over the universe, and nothing is
stronger than necessity for all must submit to it.
A multitude of words is no proof of a prudent mind.

Mencius
Philosopher
Mencius /mnis/ or Mengzi Chinese: ; was a Chinese philosopher who is the most
famous Confucian after Confucius himself. Wikipedia
Born: 372 BC, Zoucheng, China
Died: 289 BC
Schools of thought: Confucianism
Influenced by: Confucius
Books: Mencius, The Sayings of Mencius, Life and works of Mencius
Mencius, also known by his birth name Meng Ke or Meng Ko (), was born in the State of
Zou, now forming the territory of thecounty-level city of Zoucheng (originally
Zouxian), Shandong province, only thirty kilometres (eighteen miles) south of Qufu,Confucius'
birthplace.
He was an itinerant Chinese philosopher and sage, and one of the principal interpreters
of Confucianism. Supposedly, he was a pupil of Confucius' grandson, Zisi. Like Confucius,
according to legend, he travelled throughout China for forty years to offer advice to rulers for
reform.[7] During the Warring States period (403221 BC), Mencius served as an official and

scholar at the Jixia Academyin the State of Qi (1046 BC to 221 BC) from 319 to 312 BC. He
expressed his filial devotion when he took three years leave of absence from his official duties
for Qi to mourn his mother's death. Disappointed at his failure to effect changes in his
contemporary world, he retired from public life.
On Human Nature[edit]
While Confucius himself did not explicitly focus on the subject of human nature, Mencius
asserted the innate goodness of the individual, believing that it was society's influence its
lack of a positive cultivating influence that caused bad moral character. "He who exerts
his mind to the utmost knows his nature"[30] and "the way of learning is none other than
finding the lost mind."[31]
His translator James Legge finds a close similarity between Mencius's views on
human natureand those in Bishop Butler's Sermons on Human Nature.
The Four Beginnings (or Sprouts)[edit]To show innate goodness, Mencius used the example
of a child falling down a well. Witnesses of this event immediately feel

alarm and distress, not to gain friendship with the child's parents, nor to

The feeling of commiseration is the beginning of humanity; the feeling o

Men have these Four Beginnings just as they have their four limbs. Havi

Mencius/Quotes
Friendship is one mind in two bodies.
If the king loves music, there is little wrong in the land.
The great man is he who does not lose his child's-heart.

Laozi
Philosopher
Laozi was an ancient Chinese philosopher and writer. He is known as the reputed author of the
Tao Te Ching and the founder of philosophical Taoism, and as a deity in religious Taoism and
traditional Chinese religions. Wikipedia
Born: Henan, China
Died: 531 BC, China
Schools of thought: Taoism
Notable idea: Wu wei
Laozi was a native of Chu, according to the Shiji, a southern state in the Zhou dynasty (see
map and discussion in Loewe and Shaughnessy 1999, 594 and 597). His surname was Li; his
given name was Er, and he was also called Dan. Laozi served as a keeper of archival records at
the court of Zhou. Confucius (551479 B.C.E.) had consulted him on certain ritual matters, we
are told, and praised him lavishly afterward (Shiji 63). This establishes the traditional claim that
Laozi was a senior contemporary of Confucius. A meeting or meetings between Confucius and
Laozi, identified as Lao Dan, is reported also in the Zhuangzi and other early Chinese sources.
Laozi cultivated Dao and virtue, as Sima Qian goes on to relate, and his learning was devoted
to self-effacement and not having fame. He lived in Zhou for a long time; witnessing the decline
of Zhou, he departed. When he reached the northwest border then separating China from the
outside world, he met Yin Xi, the official in charge of the border crossing, who asked him to put

his teachings into writing. The result was a book consisting of some five thousand Chinese
characters, divided into two parts, which discusses the meaning of Dao and virtue. Thereafter,
Laozi left; no one knew where he had gone. This completes the main part of Sima Qian's
account. The remainder puts on record attempts to identify the legendary Laozi with certain
known historical individuals and concludes with a list of Laozi's purported descendants (see W.
T. Chan 1963, Lau 1963, and Henricks 2000 for an English translation).
laozi is traditionally regarded as the author of the Daodejing (Tao Te Ching), though the identity
of its author(s) and/or compiler(s) has been debated throughout history.[41][42] It is one of the most
significant treatises in Chinese cosmogony. As with most other ancient Chinese philosophers,
Laozi often explains his ideas by way of paradox, analogy, appropriation of ancient sayings,
repetition, symmetry, rhyme, and rhythm. In fact, the whole book can be read as an analogy the
ruler is the awareness, or self, in meditation and the myriad creatures or empire is the experience
of the body, senses and desires.
The Tao Te Ching, often called simply Laozi after its reputed author, describes the Dao (or Tao)
as the source and ideal of all existence: it is unseen, but not transcendent, immensely powerful
yet supremely humble, being the root of all things. People have desires and free will (and thus
are able to alter their own nature). Many act "unnaturally", upsetting the natural balance of the
Dao. The Daodejing intends to lead students to a "return" to their natural state, in harmony with
Dao.[43] Language and conventional wisdom are critically assessed. Taoism views them as
inherently biased and artificial, widely using paradoxes to sharpen the point.[44]

Laozi/Quotes
Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey
of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will
respect you.

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in

giving creates love.

Plato
Philosopher
Plato was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first
institution of higher learning in the Western world. Wikipedia
Born: Classical Athens
Died: Classical Athens
Influenced by: Socrates, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Homer, more
Plays: The Last Days of Socrates
Plato is one of the world's best known and most widely read and studied philosophers. He
was the student of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle, and he wrote in the middle of the fourth
century B.C.E. in ancient Greece. Though influenced primarily by Socrates, to the extent that
Socrates is usually the main character in many of Plato's writings, he was also influenced
by Heraclitus, Parmenides, and the Pythagoreans.
There are varying degrees of controversy over which of Plato's works are authentic, and in what
order they were written, due to their antiquity and the manner of their preservation through time.
Nonetheless, his earliest works are generally regarded as the most reliable of the ancient sources
on Socrates, and the character Socrates that we know through these writings is considered to be
one of the greatest of the ancient philosophers

Contribution

plato often discusses the father-son relationship andthe question of whether

a father's interest in his sons has much to do with how well his sons turn out. In ancient Athens, a
boy was socially located by his family identity, and Plato often refers to his characters in terms of
their paternal and fraternal relationships. Socrates was not a family man, and saw himself as the
son of his mother, who was apparently a midwife. A divine fatalist, Socrates mocks men who
spent exorbitant fees on tutors and trainers for their sons, and repeatedly ventures the idea that
good character is a gift from the gods. Crito reminds Socrates that orphans are at the mercy of
chance, but Socrates is unconcerned. In the Theaetetus, he is found recruiting as a disciple a
young man whose inheritance has been squandered. Socrates twice compares the relationship of
the older man and his boy lover to the father-son relationship (Lysis 213a, Republic 3.403b), and
in the Phaedo, Socrates' disciples, towards whom he displays more concern than his biological
sons, say they will feel "fatherless" when he is gone.
In several of Plato's dialogues, Socrates promulgates the idea that knowledge is a matter of
recollection, and not of learning, observation, or study.[54] He maintains this view somewhat at
his own expense, because in many dialogues, Socrates complains of his forgetfulness. Socrates is
often found arguing that knowledge is not empirical, and that it comes from divine insight. In
many middle period dialogues, such as the Phaedo,Republic and Phaedrus Plato advocates a
belief in the immortality of the soul, and several dialogues end with long speeches imagining
theafterlife. More than one dialogue contrasts knowledge and opinion, perception
and reality, nature and custom, and body and soul.
Several dialogues tackle questions about art: Socrates says that poetry is inspired by the muses,
and is not rational. He speaks approvingly of this, and other forms of divine madness
(drunkenness, eroticism, and dreaming) in the Phaedrus (265ac), and yet in the Republic wants
to outlaw Homer's great poetry, and laughter as well. In Ion, Socrates gives no hint of the
disapproval of Homer that he expresses in the Republic. The dialogue Ion suggests
that Homer's Iliad functioned in the ancient Greek world as the Bible does today in the modern
Christian world: as divinely inspired literature that can provide moral guidance, if only it can be
properly interpreted.
Socrates and his company of disputants had something to say on many subjects, including
politics and art, religion and science, justice and medicine, virtue and vice, crime and
punishment, pleasure and pain, rhetoric and rhapsody, human nature and sexuality, as well as
love and wisdom.

Plato/Quotes
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are
afraid of the light.
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

Epicurus
Philosopher
Epicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher as well as the founder of the school of philosophy
called Epicureanism. Only a few fragments and letters of Epicurus's 300 written works
remain. Wikipedia
Born: February 341 BC, Samos, Greece
Died: 270 BC, Athens, Greece
Schools of thought: Epicureanism
Influenced by: Democritus, Aristippus, Pyrrho, Nausiphanes
Epicurus (/pkjrs/ or /pkjrs/;[2] Greek: , Epkouros, "ally, comrade"; 341
270 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher as well as the founder of the school of philosophy
called Epicureanism. Only a few fragments and letters of Epicurus's 300 written works remain.

Much of what is known about Epicurean philosophy derives from later followers and
commentators.
For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized
by ataraxiapeace and freedom from fearand aponiathe absence of painand by living a
self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that pleasure and pain are measures of what
is good and evil; death is the end of both body and soul and should therefore not be feared; the
gods neither reward nor punish humans; the universe is infinite and eternal; and events in the
world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space.
Epicurus' philosophy is based on the theory that all good and bad derive from the sensations of
what he defined as pleasure and pain: What is good is what is pleasurable, and what is bad is
what is painful. His ideas of pleasure and pain were ultimately, for Epicurus, the basis for the
moral distinction between good and evil. If pain is chosen over pleasure in some cases it is only
because it leads to a greater pleasure. Although Epicurus has been commonly misunderstood to
advocate the rampant pursuit of pleasure, his teachings were more about striving for an absence
of pain and suffering, both physical and mental, and a state of satiation and tranquility that was
free of the fear of death and the retribution of the gods. Epicurus argued that when we do not
suffer pain, we are no longer in need of pleasure, and we enter a state of ataraxia, "tranquility of
soul" or "imperturbability".[16][17]
Epicurus' teachings were introduced into medical philosophy and practice by the Epicurean
doctor Asclepiades of Bithynia, who was the first physician who introduced Greek medicine in
Rome. Asclepiades introduced the friendly, sympathetic, pleasing and painless treatment of
patients. He advocated humane treatment of mental disorders, had insane persons freed from
confinement and treated them with natural therapy, such as diet and massages. His teachings are
surprisingly modern, therefore Asclepiades is considered to be a pioneer physician in
psychotherapy, physical therapy and molecular medicine.[18]
Epicurus explicitly warned against overindulgence because it often leads to pain. For instance,
Epicurus warned against pursuing love too ardently. He defended friendships as ramparts for
pleasure and denied them any inherent worth.[19] He also believed, contrary to Aristotle,
[20] that death was not to be feared. When a man dies, he does not feel the pain of death because
he no longer is and therefore feels nothing. Therefore, as Epicurus famously said, "death is
nothing to us." When we exist, death is not; and when death exists, we are not. All sensation and
consciousness ends with death and therefore in death there is neither pleasure nor pain. The fear
of death arises from the belief that in death, there is awareness.
From this doctrine arose the Epicurean epitaph: Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo ("I was not; I
was; I am not; I do not care"), which is inscribed on the gravestones of his followers and seen on
many ancient gravestones of the Roman Empire. This quotation is often used today
at humanist funerals.[21]

As an ethical guideline, Epicurus emphasized minimizing harm and maximizing happiness of

oneself and others:It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and
justly, and it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living pleasantly.("justly"
meaning to prevent a "person from harming or being harmed by another")[22]
Epicurus/Quotes
Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have
was once among the things you only hoped for.
Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does
come, we no longer exist.
It is not so much our friends' help that helps us as the confident knowledge that they will help us.

Confucius
Teacher
Confucius was a Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn
period of Chinese history. Wikipedia
Born: September 28, 551 BC, Lu
Died: 479 BC, Lu
Full name: Kong Qiu
Schools of thought: Confucianism
Confucius (/knfjus/; September 28, 551 479 BC)[2][3] was a Chinese teacher, editor,
politician, and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history.

The philosophy of Confucius emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of

social relationships, justice and sincerity. His followers competed successfully with many other
schools during the Hundred Schools of Thought era only to be suppressed in favor of
the Legalists during the Qin Dynasty. Following the victory of Han over Chu after the collapse
of Qin, Confucius's thoughts received official sanction and were further developed into a system
known as Confucianism.
Confucius is traditionally credited with having authored or edited many of the Chinese classic
texts including all of the Five Classics, but modern scholars are cautious of attributing specific
assertions to Confucius himself. Aphorisms concerning his teachings were compiled in
the Analects, but only many years after his death.
Confucius's principles had a basis in common Chinese tradition and belief. He championed
strong family loyalty, ancestor worship, respect of elders by their children and of husbands by
their wives. He also recommended family as a basis for ideal government. He espoused the wellknown principle "Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself", the Golden Rule.
Philosophy
Main article: Confucianism
The Dacheng Hall, the main hall of the Temple of Confucius in Qufu
Although Confucianism is often followed in a religious manner by the Chinese, many argue that
its values are secular and therefore it isn't a religion, but more akin to a secular morality.
Proponents argue that despite the secular nature of Confucianism's teachings, it is based on a
worldview that is religious.[34] Confucianism discusses elements of the afterlife and views
concerning Heaven, but it is relatively unconcerned with some spiritual matters often considered
essential to religious thought, such as the nature of souls. However, Confucius is said to have
believed in astrology saying: "Heaven sends down its good or evil symbols and wise men act
accordingly".[35]
In the Analects, Confucius presents himself as a "transmitter who invented nothing". He puts the
greatest emphasis on the importance of study, and it is the Chinese character for study () that
opens the text. Far from trying to build a systematic or formalist theory, he wanted his disciples
to master and internalize the old classics, so that their deep thought and thorough study would
allow them to relate the moral problems of the present to past political events (as recorded in
the Annals) or the past expressions of commoners' feelings and noblemen's reflections (as in the
poems of the Book of Odes).

Confucius/Quotes

Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it.

I want you to be everything that's you, deep at the center of your being.
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.