Echekrates

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Echekrates ( Greek Ἐχεκράτης Echekrátēs ) from Phleius (* around 417 BC) was a philosopher from the school of the Pythagoreans . He was a student of Philolaus .

Echekrates is an interlocutor in Plato's dialogue Phaedo , where he asks Phaedo of Elis to report on the death of Socrates . He then interrupts the report at a point of particular interest to him, where he speaks of the idea that the soul can be understood as the "harmony" of bodily functions.

Aristoxenus , who knew Echekrates personally, described him as one of the last Pythagoreans. A doubt about his Pythagoreanism was expressed by Francesco Prontera in 1974/1977, but it has not found any resonance in research. He is probably identical with the Echekrates to which the historian Timaeus of Tauromenion referred.

literature

  • Bruno Centrone: Échécratès de Phlionte . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Volume 3, CNRS, Paris 2000, ISBN 2-271-05748-5 , pp. 53-54

Remarks

  1. ↑ At the time of Socrates' death (399) he was probably about 18 years old, see Kurt von Fritz : Pythagorean Politics in Southern Italy , New York 1940, pp. 27f .; Cornelia J. de Vogel : Pythagoras and Early Pythagoreanism , Assen 1966, p. 27.
  2. ↑ Diogenes Laertios 8.46.
  3. ↑ Plato, Phaedo 88d.
  4. ↑ Aristoxenos (fragments 18 and 19) is quoted by Iamblichos, De vita Pythagorica 251 and Diogenes Laertios 8.46; see. on this Bartel Leendert van der Waerden : Die Pythagoreer , Zurich 1979, pp. 19, 215f., 220f .; Christoph Riedweg : Pythagoras , 2nd edition, Munich 2007, pp. 138f., 148.
  5. ↑ Bruno Centrone: Échécratès de Phlionte . In: Richard Goulet (ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Volume 3, Paris 2000, p. 53 f., Here: 54.
  6. ↑ On Timaeus' appeal to Echekrates see Polybios 12.10.7; for the credibility of the identification despite the chronological problem - Echekrates must have reached a great age if he still met Timaeus - Walter Burkert : Weisheit und Wissenschaft , Nürnberg 1962, p. 81, note 40.
personal data
SURNAME Echekrates
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek philosopher (Pythagorean)
DATE OF BIRTH around 417 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 5th century BC BC or 4th century BC Chr.