Aristotle, Metaphysics: Book XIV, 1090a20-5
The Pythagoreans, on the other hand, observing that many attributes of numbers apply to sensible bodies, assumed that real things are numbers; not that numbers exist separately, but that real things are composed of numbers. But why? Because the attributes of numbers are to be found in a musical scale, in the heavens, and in many other connections
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Themes
Aristotle (384 – 322 BCE) was a Greek philosopher, student of Plato and Socrates, and tutor to Alexander the Great. His writings cover many topics, and constitute the first comprehensive system of Western philosophy. His system of syllogistic logic provides the earliest example of the Law of the Excluded Middle, a foundational principle in modern jurisprudence.
The notion that “real things are numbers” lies at the core of most of modern science, transmitted from antiquity by Pico della Mirandola.
The connection between numbers, musical scales, and “the heavens” is expressed by the Pythagorean doctrine of the tetractys, which contains the basic proportions used in defining musical scales.