According to Pythagoras, the cosmos, the deep order of nature, is knowable through self-knowledge -- man is a microcosm. But this sort of self-knowledge involves a total inner inquiry into all aspects of the human structure as well as the arising within man of a conscious attention that can penetrate into the unconscious and harmonize all the disparate impulses within the human organism. So-called a priori knowledge, on the other hand -- knowledge independent of sensory experience -- bears only an imitative resemblance to this idea of self knowledge. It is intellectual knowledge alone that is at issue in the problem of the a priori, rather than contemplative knowledge in its ancient sense. Intellectual knowledge alone -- concepts alone -- can do no more than organize the data provided by the instruments of perception. The ancient idea of knowing the cosmos through knowing oneself is based on the possibility of mans developing new powers of perception within himself. The issue in its modern form ignores or misunderstands that possibility. -- Jacob Needleman, The Heart of Philosophy I would very much be interested in where it is that Pythagoras explained all this. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras#Writings I don’t have Needleman’s book, does Needleman cite where Pythagoras explains the cosmos in this fashion? Because this is a quite specific and far-ranging explanation for a mythical figure and his rumored texts. Texts and other elucidations that have never been proven to exist.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 17:43:22 +0000
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