La preistoria del quadrivium prima e dopo Platone

The main focus of the thesis is to rebuild the prehistory of the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music), whose history starts only with Boethius in the Middle Ages, when he uses the term «quadrivium» to define the whole of these disciplines. The landmarks in this path are the Ancient Pythagoreanism and Sophistic, Plato, Nicomachus of Gerasa and Boethius. Although at the beginning the connections among the different disciplines were not too strong and often more than four were enumerated, starting from Nicomachus and the principle of quantity as a common element, the quadrivium begins to be a unitary and fixed whole. The prehistory of the quadrivium, even if disregarded by scholars, is important for two reasons: firstly, it is an essential path in our cultural history; secondly, it holds a philosophical issue about the theoretical character of the four disciplines and their position in the ladder of knowledge. This work, considering both perspectives, tries not to ignore the context in which the quadrivium develops, pointing out how progress and stasis are connected to the social and cultural sphere of the different Ages. Furthermore, about the theoretical foundations of the disciplines it shows that they are sometimes considered as intermediate between theology and physics and some others almost identified with the philosophy itself (especially in Nicomachus and Boethius) – a problem difficult to solve. The thesis does not follow a chronological order, but it starts with the Middle Ages and ends with Antiquity: in this way is possible to show all the steps and the stratifications that constitute the prehistory of the quadrivium. Finally, along the way it comes to light a constant reference to Plato’s works and his philosophy and it becomes more and more clear that without him the quadrivium would not exist.