Sunday, August 31, 2014

THE 6 KEYS OF EUDOXUS

  • Eudoxus of Cnidus was a Greek astronomer, mathematician, scholar and student of Plato. All of his works are lost, though some fragments are preserved in Hipparchus' commentary on Aratus's poem on astronomy. 
  • According to the 3rd-century-ce historian Diogenes LaĆ«rtius (the source for most biographical details), Eudoxus studied mathematics with Archytas of Tarentum and medicine with Philistion of Locri. At age 23 he attended lectures in Athens, possibly at Plato’s Academy (opened c. 387 bce). After two months he left for Egypt, where he studied with priests for 16 months. Earning his living as a teacher, Eudoxus then returned to Asia Minor, in particular to Cyzicus on the southern shore of the Sea of Marmara, before returning to Athens where he associated with Plato’s Academy.
    Aristotle preserved Eudoxus’s views on metaphysics and ethics. Unlike Plato, Eudoxus held that forms are in perceptible things. He also defined the good as what all things aim for, which he identified with pleasure. 
Eudoxus was also an greek  navigator who tried to circumnavigate Africa about 1700 years before anyone else tried again.  He disappeared along with all of his ships and crew on his 2nd attempt. Of course, maybe he found paradise and decided not to return home.

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