Scan barcode
casparb's review against another edition
3.0
The Medievals are hard to gauge from here. Boethius seems less electric & revolutionary than Augustine, but I'm ignorant about how these things work. The Wheel of Fortune is quite fun, though I think a lot of buffing out is needed if we're to remotely take it seriously. The big idea which occurs here (that I vaguely recollect from A level philosophy) is the compatibility of free will with God, and temporality, as in coexisting with an eternal creator. It works out quite neatly.
If I remember rightly, Dante provides a space for Boethius in Paradiso (one of the lower planets, I think?). There's actually an interesting similarity going on between the Dante/Beatrice relationship and Boethius/Philosophy-as-woman (recall Nietzsche BG&E: If truth is a woman...). We can distinguish by allegory compared to the symbolic. That is to say, Dante's use of Beatrice as a symbol is more sophisticated, but probably we'd expect as much from ~800 years advantage.
If I remember rightly, Dante provides a space for Boethius in Paradiso (one of the lower planets, I think?). There's actually an interesting similarity going on between the Dante/Beatrice relationship and Boethius/Philosophy-as-woman (recall Nietzsche BG&E: If truth is a woman...). We can distinguish by allegory compared to the symbolic. That is to say, Dante's use of Beatrice as a symbol is more sophisticated, but probably we'd expect as much from ~800 years advantage.
karinlib's review against another edition
3.0
To think Boethius wrote this while awaiting to be executed, after being falsely accused of treason. As one would expect, he was feeling rather badly about the whole situation. He has a vision of a beautiful woman who brings him around. Step by step through prose and poetry, Philosophy helps Boethius to understand his life, and the value of it.
I will be reading this again.
I will be reading this again.
ralowe's review against another edition
2.0
my incessant secular humanism strikes again, how else can we explain my curiosity for this text at the onset of the european dark ages? this drive is embedded within the phenomenology of all quintessential utterance itself. the relentlessly narratival drive to seek among the affairs of rational beings a merit-based dispensation of reward and its other arrives through the vessel of boethius in ill favor with the fates, languishing in a dungeon. a prison abolitionist sensibility pays attention to the historical fact that such a hallmark of hegemony originated from within a cell. boethius did a bid in a pavian church for the king of the ostrogoths, perhaps at san pietro in ciel d'oro where he was ultimately laid to rest, entombed near st augustine. maybe it was here that boethius imagined this dialogue with the embodiment of reason, the lady philosophy. the carceral call-and-response that is being in relation, that is the drive to utter with the desire of always being heard by someone somewhere. wanting one's utterance to matter, to have a purpose within the matrix system of everything that is or can be. boethius asks a question older than himself: why are things so fucked up if there is really someone steering the ship? the deathless entanglement of fantasy and analysis that leaves the disconsolate. i can't blame this text, but i'm going to blame it anyway.
dantesacha's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
alanffm's review against another edition
3.0
Boethius is often called the last classical philosopher and the first medieval one namely because of this work.
The Consolation of Philosophy acts as a bridge between classical learning and Christian religious thought by applying and interpreting classical concepts of virtue, rationality, justice, and chance towards justifying the existence of God and divine justice. While this is what largely makes Boethius famous, it is his flirtation with theology that I find less appealing.
Nevertheless, Boethius' core arguments are fundamentally sound and useful-- regardless of one's religious beliefs or interest in theology.
Here are some great lessons I learned from this short text:
1) When confronted with death, art won't help you: only philosophy will.
2) Fortune owes nothing to nobody so don't get mad when your fortune runs out: think about how fortunate you've been your whole life instead of focusing on your present misfortune.
3) The material things you pursue end up owning you and weighing you down: it's much harder to grow as a person when your emotions and actions are driven by the pursuit of physical goods or status. The less you have the better.
4) A Christian worldview separates human knowledge and divine knowledge: this is how we have free choice but God still knows everything that will happen. It's almost as if Boethius is saying rationality exists on two different planes, a linear plane of time (humans) and an eternal fully encompassing plane (God).
The Consolation of Philosophy acts as a bridge between classical learning and Christian religious thought by applying and interpreting classical concepts of virtue, rationality, justice, and chance towards justifying the existence of God and divine justice. While this is what largely makes Boethius famous, it is his flirtation with theology that I find less appealing.
Nevertheless, Boethius' core arguments are fundamentally sound and useful-- regardless of one's religious beliefs or interest in theology.
Here are some great lessons I learned from this short text:
1) When confronted with death, art won't help you: only philosophy will.
2) Fortune owes nothing to nobody so don't get mad when your fortune runs out: think about how fortunate you've been your whole life instead of focusing on your present misfortune.
3) The material things you pursue end up owning you and weighing you down: it's much harder to grow as a person when your emotions and actions are driven by the pursuit of physical goods or status. The less you have the better.
4) A Christian worldview separates human knowledge and divine knowledge: this is how we have free choice but God still knows everything that will happen. It's almost as if Boethius is saying rationality exists on two different planes, a linear plane of time (humans) and an eternal fully encompassing plane (God).
paolobooks's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5