Boethius’ ‘Consolation of Philosophy’: A Critical Guide (Cambridge Critical Guides)

Cover
Half-title
Series information
Title page
Imprints page
Table of Contents
List of Contributors
List of Abbreviations of Boethius’ Works
Introduction
	I.1 Overview of the Chapters
Chapter 1 Boethius’ Philosophiae consolatio: The Intersection of Literary Form and Philosophical Content
	1.1 Is the Consolatio Complete?
	1.2 III.m9: The Formal Turning Point
	1.3 III.m9: The Philosophical Turning Point
	1.4 III.9: Plato and Aristotle
	1.5 Wheels, Orbs, a Ring Structure
Chapter 2 The Ascent from Π to θ, or On Philosophy’s Teaching a Blind Man to See
	2.1 Blindness, Prisons, and the Phaedo
	2.2 Order, the Good, Evil, and God: The Problem of Evil
Chapter 3 Lady Philosophy as a Feminine Personification of Wisdom
	3.1 Philosophia as Allegorical Personification
	3.2 Philosophia’s Feminine Identity
	3.3 Conclusions
Chapter 4 Boethius’ Christianity in the Consolatio: A History of the Debate
	4.1 Christian References in the Consolatio
	4.2 Medieval Commentary on the Problem of the Consolatio’s Christianity
	4.3 Discussion of Boethius’ Christianity in the Early Modern Period
	4.4 Trends in Contemporary Accounts of Boethius’ Christianity
	4.5 Boethius’ Christianity in the Consolatio: A Way Forward
Chapter 5 The Blending of Pagan and Christian Elements in Book III of the Consolatio
	5.1 The Problem of Sources
	5.2 God and Deification
	5.3 Some Remarks on O qui perpetua
	5.4 Conclusion: Between Paganism and Christianity
Chapter 6 The Human Person in the Consolation of Philosophy
	6.1 Human Powers and Human Nature
	6.2 Personhood in the Consolation
	6.3 Becoming a God or a Beast
	6.4 Human Persons as Microcosms
	6.5 Human Persons and Beauty
Chapter 7 Self-Investigation, Self-Knowledge, and Inner Conflict in Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy
	7.1 Consolation and Self-Analysis: Two Ancient Practices
	7.2 The Consolation as a ‘‘Platonic’’ Dialogue
	7.3 Boethius’ Inner Conflict
	7.4 Boethius’ Notion of Self in the Context of Late Antiquity
	7.5 Embodied Self, Divine Self, and Philotimía
Chapter 8 What It Means to Be a God: Providence and Punishment in the Consolation of Philosophy
	8.1 Preparatory Analysis in Books I–III
	8.2 Happiness Is Being Something: Why the Vicious Benefit from Punishment
	8.3 Attaching Oneself to Providence as Freedom from Fate
	8.4 Conclusion: The Next Step in Attaining This Divine Standpoint – Book V
Chapter 9 A Consolation through Philosophical Insight?: Boethius’ Practical Philosophy
	9.1 Plato’s Ideal Consolation
	9.2 Plato amicus, sed . . .: Aristotle’s Criticism and the Loss of Philosophical Consolation
	9.3 Neoplatonic Foundations of Boethius’ Consolation
	9.4 Augustine’s Triune First Principle
	9.5 God as summum bonum
	9.6 Boethius’ Philosophical Consolation
	9.7 Defining the summum bonum
	9.8 A Philosophical Consolation
Chapter 10 Being and Existence in the Consolation of Philosophy
	10.1 Exsistere and Esse in Consolation III.10.2–5
	10.2 Modern Notions of Existence and Being in Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, and Boethius
	10.3 The Notion of Exsistere in Consolation III.10.2–5
	10.4 Exsistere in the Consolation as ‘‘to Be Manifest’’
	10.5 Conclusion
Chapter 11 Circle and Sphere Metaphors for God’s Nature and Providence in Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy and Dionysius’ On Divine Names
	11.1 Circle and Sphere as Metaphors in the Consolation of Philosophy
	11.2 The Circle as a Metaphor for the Divine Nature in Dionysius the Areopagite
	11.3 Comparing Boethius and Dionysius
Chapter 12 Time and Eternity in the Consolation of Philosophy
	12.1 Time, Eternity, and Extension
	12.2 Happiness as a Guide to Time and Eternity
	12.3 Temporal Change
	12.4 Temporal Extension and Four-Dimensionalism
	12.5 Presentism
	12.6 Block Universes, Growing Blocks, and Eternalism
	12.7 Eternal Existence
Chapter 13 Boethius on Human Freedom and Divine Foreknowledge
References
Index