Transcript Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius

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Boethius teaching his
students (initial in a 1385
Italian manuscript of
the Consolation of
Philosophy.)
Born Rome 480 AD
Died Pavia 524/5 AD
Era Medieval philosophy
Region Western
philosophy
 Main interests problem of
universals, religion, music
 Notable ideas The Wheel
of Fortune
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Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius,[1][2][3] commonly
called Boethius (ca. 480–524 or 525 AD) was a philosopher of the
early 6th century. He was born in Rome to an ancient and
prominent family which included emperors Petronius
Maximus and Olybrius and many consuls.[3] His father, Flavius
Manlius Boethius, was consul in 487 after Odoacer deposed the
last Western Roman Emperor. Boethius, of the noble Aniciafamily,
entered public life at a young age and was already a senator by
the age of 25.[4] Boethius himself was consul in 510 in the kingdom
of the Ostrogoths. In 522 he saw his two sons become
consuls.[5] Boethius was imprisoned and eventually executed by
King Theodoric the Great,[6] who suspected him of conspiring with
the Eastern Roman Empire. While jailed, Boethius composed
his Consolation of Philosophy, a philosophical treatise on fortune,
death, and other issues. The Consolation became one of the most
popular and influential works of the Middle Ages. A link between
Boethius and a mathematical boardgame Rithmomachia has
been made.
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Let's look at another text, in which Ockham discusses concepts. This
is from his Ordinatio, I, dist. 2, q. 8, translated in William of
Ockham, Philosophical Writings, ed. Boehner, pp. 41-45. In this text
Ockham presents two possible theories of what a concept is. Read
from pp. 41 to two-thirds down p. 43. Comment. In the second
sentence the phrase 'that exists in a subject [of inherence]'
translates the Latin habens esse subiectivum, more literally, 'that has
subjective being'; and 'has being only as a thought object'
translates habet esse obiectivum, 'has objective being'. The contrast
between subjective and objective being is easily misunderstood. In
modern philosophy subjective means 'coloured by the character,
prejudices etc. of the knowing subject', and objective means 'really
there in the object'. In medieval terminology subjective means
'really there in some subjectout there in the world' - e.g. a Julius
Caesar shape in a block of marble, the block being the subject in
which, 'subjectively', the Julius Caesar shape exists as an accident.
By 'objective' they meant 'in the mind as object known': so when
I think about the statue of Julius Caesar, it was said that this object,
the statue, exists 'objectively', i.e. exists as object of thought, in my
mind.
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Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius was born into a Christian
aristocratic family, learned Greek and translated many works
into Latin, wrote books on arithmetic, geometry, music, and
theology, became Consul of Rome under King Theodoric in
510, had the honor of his two sons becoming joint Consuls in
522 when they were chosen by Theodoric and the eastern
Emperor Justin, after which he was selected for the high
position of magister officiorum, when suddenly he was
accused of treason for defending the Roman Senate and the
falsely accused Albinus and put in prison in 523 by Theodoric's
command. In the context of this situation of his drastic fall
from the heights of fortune, Boethius wrote while in prison
the Consolation of Philosophy. After about a year's time in
which the work was completed, he was brutally executed.
The chronicle Anonymous Valesii states in articles 85-87:
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Political philosophy is, in one respect, simply that part or
extension of moral philosophy which considers the kinds of
choice that should be made by all who share in the responsibility
and authority of choosing for a community of the
comprehensive kind called political. In another respect, it is a
systematic explanatory account of the forms of political
arrangement that experience and empirical observation show
are available, with their characteristic features, outcomes, and
advantages (and disadvantages and bad aspects and
consequences). Though in form descriptive and contemplative,
and thus non-practical, this aspect of political philosophy
remains subordinate, in its systematization or conceptual
structure, to the categories one finds necessary or appropriate
when doing moral and political philosophy as it should be done,
that is, as practical thinking by one whose every choice (even
the choice to do nothing now, or the choice do moral or
political philosophy) should be a good use of opportunity.
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“Music is part of us, and either ennobles or
degrades
“Nothing is miserable unless you think it is
so”
“A man content to go to heaven alone will
never go to heaven
“Music is part of us, and either ennobles or
degrades our behavior”
“If there is a God, whence proceed so
many evils? If there is no God, whence
cometh any good?”
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The sorrowful writer is visited by a vision of a woman
standing over him. A mystical vision, she is "full of
years" yet with undiminished color and vigor. She
appears to him of varying height, sometimes of
normal human dimensions and sometimes scraping
the heavens. Boethius carefully notes her robe, which
he says consists of an "imperishable material" woven
by her own hands. This magical dress, however, is
covered with the dust of long neglect. She bears
written on her hem the Greek letter Pi, and on the top
of her gown the letter Theta. Between these letters is
a ladder of steps going from the bottom to the top