"Why Thales Knew the Pythagorean Theorem: Re-Viewing the Origins of Greek Geometry and Philosophy" with Professor Robert A. Hahn

March 12, 2021 - 3:30pm to 5:30pm

"Why Thales Knew the Pythagorean Theorem: Re-Viewing the Origins of Greek Geometry and Philosophy"
ZOOM Lecture, Friday 12 March 2021, 3:30PM – 5:30PM

For the Zoom registration link, please click here.

The Joint Graduate Program in Classics, Philosophy, and Ancient Science at the University of Pittsburgh Presents:

Robert A. Hahn
Professor of Philosophy
Director, Ancient Legacies Seminars to Greece, Turkey, and Egypt
Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Abstract

The publication of Burkert’s Lore and Wisdom in Ancient Pythagoreanism [1962/72] galvanized an avalanche of scholarly consensus away from “Pythagoras the Mathematician” and discredited the connection of Pythagoras with the famous theorem that bears his name. Burkert had shown that the ancient testimonies alleging Pythagoras’ mathematical achievements were too late to be trustworthy. More recently, Zhmud [2012] has argued that Burkert was too hasty in dismissing “Pythagoras the Mathematician,” and his arguments show that even in the fifth, fourth, and third centuries BCE there are trustworthy doxographical reports certifying Pythagoras’ mathematical interests and even a reference to a diagram revealing a geometrical discovery/proof, possibly of the hypotenuse theorem. I think that Zhmud has it right, but I propose to follow the geometrical diagrams to show that even before Pythagoras, Thales had visualized, if not proved, the hypotenuse theorem. Thales arguably knew the theorem, and the “big picture” places Thales in the broader technological context of modular thinking. Geometry supplied an answer to the underlying structure of diverse appearances, and hence the connection between the origins of geometry and philosophy in Greece.

To view the interactive pdf for the event, please click here.

"Why Thales Knew the Pythagorean Theorem:  Re-Viewing the Origins of Greek Geometry and Philosophy" with Professor Robert A. Hahn March 12th at 3:30pm Click here for the Zoom registration link. Black and white poster with math equations