Thursday, December 12, 2019

Reviewing the analysis of Alan C. Bowen on Pythagorean music ratios

In my two, three, infinity paper I cite Alan C. Bowen from 1978. He is on Academia.edu so he acknowledged my citation of him. I figured he was no longer alive and he was just an old musicologist! Nope - he is part of the Institute for Advanced Study history research and he directs his own institute of philosophy of classical science studies out of University of Pittsburgh...
Director, Institute for Research in Classical Philosophy and Science. Editor, Aestimatio: Critical Reviews in the History of Science. Editor, Interpretatio: Sources ...
Alan Bowen's research covers the history of the exact sciences (especially astronomy and harmonic science) in Greco-Roman antiquity. He is currently writing a ...

Alan C. Bowen's research works | University of Pittsburgh, PA ...


Alan C. Bowen's 6 research works with 26 citations and 42 reads, including: The Role of Observations in Ptolemy's Lunar Theories.
Alan C Bowen. History of Science, History of Astronomy, and History of Ideas.
 So then I discovered several papers of his that I wanted to review.


This is the book that I looked at for the research I did as per the direction of math professor Joe Mazur - on Pythagorean number theory....

So then in the quote that I did cite - the next line is also very apropos!!



That corroborates the research of Professor Richard McKirahan on Philolaus.

And then in Bowen's analysis of Archytas he reiterates this "controversy":


OK so...in contrast to the Orthodox Pythagorean analysis:


Now he says he goes into this in greater detail elsewhere....

https://www.academia.edu/1985489/Euclids_Sectio_canonis_and_the_History_of_Pythagoreanism

Maybe here?

This is a WHOLE book and Bowen just has one chapter contribution...

That's cuz music is the "vanishing mediator" of Western science origins!!

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