Blog Round One: Here Comes The Fun - Pythagoras

I like Pythagoras a lot. His theory on the transmigration of souls is interesting in the fact that he was teaching it around the same time that Buddha Siddhartha Gautama would have been teaching the same theory, only in a different part of the world. However, the area of Pythagorean philosophy that I have the most interest is the work on numbers and music.

 The passage I am referring to is 16 in the reader, which says,

 "The tetractys is a certain number , which being composed of the four first numbers produces the most perfect number, 10. For 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 come to be 10. This number is the first tetractys and is called the source of every-flowing nature, since according to them the entire kosmos is organized according to harmonia, and harmonia is a system of three concords, the fourth, the fifth, and the octave, and the proportions of these three concords are found in the aforementioned four numbers." 

Here, Pythagoras is asserting that all of nature and the kosmos can be explained through the musical chords of a major fourth, major fifth, and a perfect octave. 

And because this topic interests me so, I raise my question here: Can the harmony of the universe be explained through chords?

First we must know what Pythagoras truly means when he says, "the proportions of these three concords are found in the aforementioned four numbers." A concord is different from a chord in that two tones are only used as opposed the the normal three notes of a chord. The numbers 4, 5, and 8 can be made in the tetractys of 1, 2, 3, and 4. And the proportion which Pythagoras is referring to is the size ratio of the different pitches in the concord. The fourth, fifth, and eighth notes in a scale are all connected proportionally to the original note. And so the argument I think Pythagoras is trying to make is that everything is proportionally and mathematically related to each other. The most pleasing shapes and forms will be in a ratio of 1.5:1, 1.625:1, and 2:1 (The fourth, fifth, and octave concord, respectively). So, these ratios can be applied to many different things, including the order of the heavens, and the formation of pleasing things around us. Pythagoras believes that all pleasing things around us (sounds, tools, shapes, etc.) are constructed in these ratios because these particular ratios are inherently pleasing to us.

This argument is flimsy, and perhaps I am misrepresenting Pythagoras' view. If I am, feel free to correct me. However, I remain immensely interested in this topic.

- Andrew