Pythagoras (580-500 BC) has been judged by Walther Kirchner (1960) as “one of the most outstanding mathematicians of all times,” but by Heraclitus (c. 500 BC) as “the chief captain of swindlers.”
He is difficult to judge because, alone among all ancient philosophers, not a single word in his own writing survives. However, when we consider the utter failure of education during the past 100 years, should we now consider his model as a teacher who demanded that every student must remain silent and not ask a question during his first five years as a student?
