Pythagoras and the Doctrine of Transmigration

James Luchte is Lecturer in European Philosophy at the University of Wales, Lampeter, UK.

• 1. Sources of the Doctrine of Transmigration; 2. Beyond Mysticism and Science: Symbolism and Philosophical Magic; 3. The Emergence of Mystic Cults and the Immortal Soul; 4. Philolaus and the Character of Pythagorean Harmony; 5. The Alleged Critique of Pythagoras by Parmenides; 6. Between the Earth and the Sky: On the Pythagorean Divine; 7. The Pythagorean Bios and the Doctrine of Transmigration; 8. The Platonic Rupture: Writing and Difference; 9. Plotinus: The Ascent of the Soul Toward the One; 10. Plotinus as Neoplatonic Mystic: Letter to Flaccus; Epilogue: The Pythagorean Doctrine of Transmigration; Bibliography; Index.

"The importance of [Luchte's] new book is based on his synthetic approach to the fragmentary traces of the Pythagorean movement. The symbol of transmigration is used as a hermeneutic key which gives access to the ‘family similarity' (in the sense of Wittgenstein) of Pythagoras' seemingly heterogeneous teaching on mathematics, music, cosmology, ethics, theology, and the soul. He seeks to reconstruct Pythagoras' philosophy against the background of a ‘magical' concept of thinking-practice which does not simply depict a ‘given' reality, but considers philosophical concepts as part of a ‘way of life' (Pierre Hadot) or as tools to be used in ‘spiritual exercises' (Michel Foucault)." - Johannes Hoff, University of Wales, Lampeter, UK