Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion

189

PYTHAGORAS

transformation over time. This under-
standing of purgatory can be advanced
without accepting the Roman Catholic
theology of indulgences.

PURITY. See IMPURITY.

PYRRHO OF ELIS (c. 365–275 BCE).
Greek skeptic who gave rise to pyr-
rhonism, the view that for every opinion
or thesis one can find as good a reason
to oppose it as to accept it. Under such

conditions, Pyrrho thought one should

suspend judgment.

PYRRHONISM. See PYRRHO OF ELIS.

PYTHAGORAS (b. c. 570 BCE). One of

the earliest Greek philosophers, attrib-

uted (probably wrongly) with the

discovery of the Pythagorean theorem.

He is believed to have practiced philoso-

phy as not simply a matter of intellectual

inquiry but as a way of life.