Religion and Science in the Pythagorean Doctrine

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to reveal clearly and distinctly how the relationship between religion and science is established in Pythagorean doctrine. Religion and science are two important disciplines that provide people to understand and explain themselves and those around them in their life journey. Therefore, these two disciplines have been always in a mutual interaction throughout the historical process. While some thinkers argue that the interaction between religion and science supports and nurtures each other, the dominant opinion is that these disciplines are opposed to each other and that they are subsequently accepted at the same time create a contradiction. Thus, for those who defend the second view, religion and science are distinct fields, as well as disciplines that do not agree with each other in any way. On the other hand, Pythagoras and his followers, in a sense, challenged their predecessors (philosophers of Miletus) and presented religion and science under one roof. And they have thus shown that religion is not opposed to science, on the contrary, religion is based on science, and even these two disciplines are a single instrument that serves the same purpose. Pythagorean achieved this purpose by discovering the concept of "harmonia", which combines the studies of religion, music and mathematics.