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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