| dc.description.abstract | This article deals with two problems. The first is a question of reliable sources which
would provide a basis for further research on pythagoreanism. The second is a question of
the Pythagorean model of life - its essence, conditions for and significance.
It is common to complain about a lack of reliable sources concerning early pythagoreanism.
However, some basie data may be gathered by studying later, quite rich tradition coming
from both Pythagorean and Aristotelian circles, as well as from works by Plato, Aristotle
and some of Pythagoras' contemporaries. This is crucial for an attempt to define both the
ethical and practical principles which the Pythagoreans followed.
Moreover, in regard to a growing interest in the practical philosophy, Pythagorean model
of life is not only a subject of theoretical and historical considerations. When studying this
problem, it is necessary to deal with a whole range of other questions: borrowings from
orphism, belief (or disbelief) in the immortality of the soul and in the metempsychosis. In
addition, one has to consider the relationship between ethical principles and Pythagorean
scientific research as well as between an individual and the universe seen as a superior being.
The next two questions to be dealt with are: firstly, a problem of distinction between the
so-called Pythagoreans and the acousmatic and secondly, a meaning of the symbols.
The author is attracted by W. Burkert's thesis, in which symbols were obligatory for all
and constituted the principles of life. By constant practice a Pythagorean man always had
them in mind, therefore he could make use of them in every situation and his conduct was
always right.
The very last problem is that of pythagoreanism's influence - not only on the ancient
philosophy, but also - through the Pythagorean concept of the soul - on this further
development of philosophical ideas, up to the present | pl_PL |
