Philolaus
470 BCE – 390 BCE · aged 80
Greek philosopher, astronomer and Pythagorean (c.470–c.385 BCE)
- Born
- 470 BCE · Crotone
- Died
- 390 BCE · Thebes
Life timeline
Their life from birth to death. On the timeline, world events of the time are shown faintly.
- 470 BCEBornBorn in Crotone
- 390 BCEDiedDied in Thebes
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Meanwhile in the world
Major world events during their lifetime (470 BCE – 390 BCE).
- 431 BCE – 404 BCEPeloponnesian War
Biography
Philolaus (Ancient Greek: Φιλόλαος, Philólaos; c. 470 – c. 385 BC)
was a Greek Pythagorean and pre-Socratic philosopher. He was born in a Greek colony in Italy and migrated to Greece. Philolaus has been called one of three most prominent figures in the Pythagorean tradition and the most outstanding figure in the Pythagorean school. Pythagoras developed a school of philosophy that was dominated by both mathematics and mysticism. Most of what is known today about the Pythagorean astronomical system is derived from Philolaus's views. He may have been the first to write about Pythagorean doctrine. According to Böckh (1819), who cites Nicomachus, Philolaus was the successor of Pythagoras.
He argued that at the foundation of everything is the part played by the limiting and limitless, which combine in a harmony. With his assertions that the Earth was not the center of the universe (geocentrism), he is credited with the earliest known discussion of concepts in the development of heliocentrism, the theory that the Earth is not the center of the Universe, but rather that the Sun is. Philolaus discussed a Central Fire as the center of the universe and that spheres (including the Sun) revolved around it.
Text from the Wikipedia article Philolaus, CC BY-SA 4.0
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