In this week’s Friday Philosophy post we’re going to stay with the ancient Greeks and look at an idea by a man who we all know from mathematics lessons. Pythagoras of Samos lived around the mid-sixth century BC (we don’t know the exact dates) and like Thales who we looked at last week was a presocratic philosopher.
Who Was He?
Pythagoras was a mystic and religious thinker as well as a philosopher and mathematician. We know him best for his famous theorem relating to right-angled triangles but it’s actually likely that he didn’t invent the theorem as there is evidence that it was known both to the Egyptians and Babylonians around the same period.
We don’t have any of his writings, but in a similar way to Socrates who followed him we have the writing of his students to whom he passed down his ideas. A random fact about Pythagoras is that he founded a kind of religious cult that had a veneration for beans.
What’s the Big Idea?
Pythagoras believed that the ultimate nature of reality is number. He came to this conclusion after studying music and deciphering that the intervals between musical notes could be expressed as ratios between the numbers one to four.
A fascination with numbers characterised a lot of Pythagorean thought, and there was a mystical element to his thinking. Numerology became something of an obsession for the philosopher and he believed, for instance, that the number 10 is the perfect number because it is made up of the sum of the first four integers (1,2,3, and 4).
My Reflections
Numerology has had a major influence down through the ages, the most obvious example of this being Nostradamus, who used numbers in his prophetic writing. But it’s also interesting that some Christians, even those living in the present day, have an obsession with trying to read significance into the numbers we find associated with certain events in Scripture.
I find the whole concept of numbers very interesting. While I was writing my book The Philosophy of a Mad Man I spent some time thinking about numbers and words, and why they have meaning. I believe that they can best be understood as impressions in consciousness that God imbues with a certain regularity. For instance, if you look at this number – 5 – what you are looking at is merely a mark on the page which has no inherent meaning. What gives the number meaning is God creating an impression in your awareness as you read.
So I share with Pythagoras a fascination with numbers, and I believe that although numerology can sometimes be overly superstitious, if we take time to study why numbers mean what they mean, that study can reveal some deep truths about the human mind and its relationship with God.
Next week we’ll be looking at a big idea by Xenophanes, another presocratic thinker. If you don’t want to miss out on that, consider subscribing. Thank you for reading!
Perfect Chaos 
12 responses to “Reality as Numbers”
What’s fascinating about mathematics is that is about the only thing we can prove, yet math itself, is abstract, as you alluded to. There’s nothing tangible about math itself but you can build great physical structures and travel space from it. It shows us that the world around is logical. Another interesting benefit is that God uses math to help us have faith in our identity. God says, “reckon yourself dead to sin…” (Rom.6:11). This is an accounting term. When what we confess equals what God says, we come to the truth. See, faith is a math problem! 🙂
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Some interesting thoughts, thank you Mel!
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Well done, Steven. Interesting historical piece, and I think your reflection was well stated and well thought out.
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Thank you, David! Hope you have a great weekend. Peace be with you.
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I am a music teacher who must find ways to enlighten my college classes to open their eyes to the wonders of the middle ages and Gregorian Chant…not easy, but I do really enjoy it. I thank you for your thoughtful post and reflection. May God bless your writing and blog:)
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Hi Jennifer!
That sounds really fascinating! I’m so glad that you have a passion for music and enjoy your work. I’m looking forward to seeing what you post on God Thru the Arts.
Thank you for your kindness and for subscribing, I really appreciate it!
Peace and blessings,
Steven
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I agree with you Steven, that ultimately God ascribes meaning to the numbers. However, I think that if I write down, ‘tree’ on a piece of paper and hand it to someone (assuming they speak my language), they will find it meaningful as well. It simply describes reality. So if we can verify that 2+2=4, then perhaps the numbers are just a reflection of reality as well. Of course this begs the question of why they work all the time and so forth, but if we have a word that is meaningful because it accurately describes reality, then why not think numbers are in the same boat?
Truly enjoy your writing Steven.
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Hi TheDuke!
Many thanks for your kind and thoughtful comment, and for the really good points you make.
I believe that in every instance of where someone is thinking about a tree, they are doing so because God brings about an image (or you could say ‘impression’) in their awareness.
But having said that, I do believe in some sense there is a physical reality to trees, although words tend to attribute boundaries to objects where perhaps there are no boundaries. But yes, there is a physical tree, at least in some sense!
Numbers are more abstract, because we can’t observe them with our senses, but they do in some way encapsulate ‘separateness’, which I believe is ultimately just conceptual.
You’ve got me thinking!
Have a great weekend and feel free to respond if you’d like to 🙂
Blessings,
Steven
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