Post on 14-Apr-2018
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Plato and MathematicsMGS, April 2013
Dr. Jay Kennedy, University of Manchester
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Overview My Fifteen Minutes of Fame
Pythagoras: the Invention of
Mathematics
Euclids Crystal Palace
The Mystery of Plato
Platos Musical Code
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Part I:
My Fifteen Minutes of Fame
POPULAR MEDIA
Newspapers: Guardian,
Telegraph, Daily Mail, etc
Broadcasts: BBC, CBC,
ABC, NPR, World Service
Magazines: THES,
Philosophy Today, etc.
International: Greece, China,
India, Mexico, etc.
SCHOLARLY RESPONSE
Conferences: New York,
Leeds, Brazilia
Lectures: KCL, UCL,
Durham, etc.
Responding Articles
Anthology of articles coming
out
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Part II: Pythagoras About 570 495 BCE
Fled dictatorship on Greek
island
Started cult in Greekcolonies of Italy
Converted thousands,
gained regional power
Rebellion and slaughter: cultalmostexterminated
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Part Cult, Part Science
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Not the
Pythagorean Theorem He did not discover: triplets
known to Babylonians,
Egyptians
He did not prove: proofs not
invented for another century
He did not even know
theorem: concept of
theorem is also later
Story that he invented camecenturies later
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Cuneiform Tablet:1800 BCE
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Immortal Discovery:
Harmony from Mathematics Some notes blend well
When strings have lengths in
simple ratios
Like one-half, two-thirds,three-quarters
First mathematical physics
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Mysticism:
Harmony of the Spheres Maths and Sciences came
from Mysticism
Chemistry from Alchemy,
Astronomy from Astrology
Numerology: Numbers and
coincidences control the
world
Pythagoreans: planets make
harmonious notes, heard bywise
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Part III:
Euclids Crystal Palace 300 BC, Alexandria in Egypt
Director of famous Library
Miracle: reduced centuries of
mathematical discoveries tofive basic ideas
Taught humanity how to think
clearly!
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Euclids Five Axioms
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Papyrus Fragment of Euclid
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Euclid Defines Golden Mean A special number like pi
The Whole is to the Larger
Part as that is to the Smaller
Part
Problem: use quadratic
equation to calculate
If the whole line is 1, then the
Larger Part is 0.618, this is
the value of G.M.
Favorite of numerologists
since ancient times
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Golden Rectangle in Nature
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Part IV:
The Mystery of Plato 427 347 BCE, Athens
Einstein of ancient times
All of Western philosophy is
a series of footnotes toPlato. (Whitehead)
Founded first university: the
Academy
Champion of mathematics inscience and education
Literary genius
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Platos Great Idea:
the Theory of Forms Comparison: science says
what we see is atoms and
space
Plato said reality is hidden
beneath appearances
The Scientist/Philosopher
seeks the hidden order, the
structure and laws
Friends of the Forms
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Discovered First Geometric
Model of Solar System Invented the idea of science:
seek general laws, use
mathematical models
Earth at centre
Problem: Mars sometimes
appears to go backwards
Solution: assume cycles
upon cycles
Accurate, opened path to
Newton, Galileo, Einstein
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Enigma:
What is Platos Philosophy? His books are brilliant and
rich, but no conclusions!
Standard view in ancient and
medieval times: he used
symbols to hide his views
Doctrine of Reserve
Rejected in modern times,
scholars deny any symbols
P V
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Part V:
Platos Musical Code
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Stichometry: Line Counting
K E id
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Key Evidence:
Settling an Old Debate A famous passage in Platos
Republic
A Divided Line
Was it a symbol or hint aboutthe Golden Mean?
Many scholarly articles
(Balashov, etc.)
Surprise: the passage is61.7% of the way through the
book (GM = 61.8%)
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Conclusion
RESULTS:
Plato was a symbolist
Plato was a secret
Pythagorean
Plato was a mathematician
Golden Mean was known to
Plato and Academy
FUTURE RESEARCH:
Popular book coming out, 8
languages
Canvass all of Platos 30
books
Next scholarly book: Platos
secret philosophy