The Consolation of Philososphy is a work by a prominent political official of the Roman Empire named Ancius Manlius Severinus Boethius, who had led a life of philosophy. The work is written in a prosimetrical apocalyptic dialogue, which has a connection with the Latin, dialogue for form of Consolatio, which is principally directed to console the writer himself.
The first scene is between Boethius and Muses of Poetry who are present to comfort him as he writes in sorrow. A strange otherworldly looking character enters indroduced as Lady Philosophy. She explains that she has come to comfort him is his hour of need by diagnosing his sickness and offering consolation. Thus begins Lady Philosophy’s ‘cure’ for Boethius as she shuns away the muses
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She continues that the gifts of fortune were never for him to keep at all, health, wealth honor and power can all be quickly snatched away and convinces Boethius not to trust in the vagaries of Lady Fortune, as it is unwise to become too attached with ephemeral goods. The ‘cure’ Lady Philosophy continues is in the belief that true happiness is not in the nature of earthly goods, but something beyond. At this point it is imperative to describe fortune and why Lady Philosophy thus loathes the concept. She begins in Book II, in what she describes, as ‘persuasive powers of sweet sounding rhetoric’ to gently attempt to heal is illness and pull him out of his grief. She echoes her words again regarding the fickle trustworthiness of Fortune. Lady Fortune is described as luring many people into their ruin. The good fortune that Boethius had before this was a result of Fortune’s capricious deeds for the things he had gained were actually ‘loans’ described by Philosophy. Thus the argument posed is that bad fortune and the absence of good one is nothing to grieve about, as fortune is not something one can keep. She reasons this by saying that Boethius had come unto the world with no fortune and that he should never get attached to anything as will not be able to keep any of the gifts that Fortune had given him. Boethius finally acknowledges the logic Lady Philosophy’s argument but complains that the fact that he had experienced good fortune makes the current experiences even worse. To that Lady Philosophy replies that he had received the gift of family and that they are still alive, thus relatively he is quite fortunate. As Boethius accepts that Fortune is transient and not truly the goal of one, Lady Philosophy introduces the idea of true happiness. To further the argument of Lady
I was given the task to make a decision concerning the confession of Alexandros of Nicomedia regarding his Monophysite beliefs. After carefully studying Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy, and closely analyzing his arguments, I was able to come to a conclusion. Boethius would argue that the correct thing to do is punish Alexandros to push him to reform himself rather than just senseless torture, given that wicked men technically do not exist, wicked men are already punishing themselves and wicked man can reform themselves by suing the right punishment.
Then we lives off a dat happiness he made till some mo’ happiness come along” (Hurston 141). For the first time, Janie has found happiness in a marriage, Tea Cake was not a wealthy man, but he was the perfect man for Janie. He reveals his love by praising in Janie’s beauty; he loves her the At the end, Janie’s allegiance to her own needs makes her unconcerned to the townsfolks’ judgements. Similarly, young people who are struggling to conflict decisions can identify with the idea that strength and sacrifice can lead to self-empowerment and true
Fate seems to lurk in the shadows of these characters very being and it is this force in which they acknowledge their mortality as human beings. Boethius wrote The Consolation of Philosophy, which may be very helpful in interpreting the meaning of fate in the epic poem Beowulf. Boethius creates fate as a female character that attempts to heal the mind of a troubled man. Richard Green translates some of Boethius’s work in the introduction and interprets this woman’s role as, “She represented fate as a random, uncontrollable force, to be feared or courted, opposed or despised” (xvi). Green is trying to unfold the meaning of fate and Boethius’s intent to illustrate its effects on a man’s life. Boethius himself says that, “Fate moves the heavens and the stars, governs the elements in their mixture, and transforms them by mutual change, it renews all things that are born and die by the reproduction of similar offspring and seeds. This same power binds the actions and fortunes of men in an unbreakable chain of causes and, since these causes have their own origins in an unchangeable providence, they too must necessarily be
In book III of The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius establishes the fact that God is the world's helmsman, the divine reason, the supreme good, the origin of all things. He demonstrates that God is omnipotent and omniscient. Nothing more superior can even be conceived of. Through the concept of unity, through which things basically become good, Boethius shows that God and happiness are one, the divine goodness. He concludes, "God is the essence of happiness." (70)
The Consolation of Philosophy is written by Boethius while in prison awaiting for his execution. It starts out with Boethius talking to lady philosophy and she starts to tell him about the philosophical view on Christianity. She begins by explaining that the vagaries of Fortune visit everyone and she has came there to "cure" him of all his suffering and sickness he is feeling through this troubling time. Boethius's view is more of a philosophical point of view meaning that he uses reasoning and experience to base his view of God. He doesn’t understand why bad things happen to good people and why good things happen to bad people. Boethius had a hard time understanding that God would allow good people to have a troubling life. Boethius has a
Around 524, the Christian philosopher Boethius awaited his death. During the last stage of his life, he composed one of the most influential writings of the Medieval period: The Consolation of Philosophy. C.S. Lewis says of the work, "To acquire a taste for it is almost to become naturalized in the Middle Ages" (Lewis 75). Over 800 years later, Geoffrey Chaucer, one of the most highly praised authors in the English language, would draw upon Boethius to compose his finest work, Troilus and Criseyde.
Through the character of Oedipus, Sophocles shows the futility and consequences of defying the divine order. Oedipus served Thebes as a great ruler, loved by his subjects; but it is his one tragic flaw, hubris, which dooms his existence, regardless of the character attributes that make him such a beloved king.
Boethius's idea of a simultaneous God that could remain omnipresent without propagating or condoning evil became a cornerstone in Christian theology during the medieval ages. The Consolation soothes the reader not because it provides a theological proof, but because it reveals that injustice will never be rewarded by the truly virtuous God. In the Consolation of Philosophy, reason represented by Lady Philosophy comforts the imprisoned Boethius that in a world created by an eternal, emanating God, bad can never overcome virtue and goodness.
According to the Aristotelian characteristics of good tragedy, the tragic character should not fall due to either excessive virtue or excessive wickedness, but due to what Aristotle called hamartia. Hamartia may be interpreted as either a flaw in character or an error in judgement. Oedipus, the tragic character in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, certainly makes several such mistakes; however, the pervasive pattern of his judgemental errors seems to indicate a basic character flaw that precipitates them.
The greek playwright, Sophocles, was born around 496 B.C., and died in 406 B.C. During his life, he wrote many plays, one of which was Oedipus Rex. Sophocles was the first dramatist to add the third actor to the play. Actors were able to perfrom many different parts, but the play was limited to only three actors and the chorus. (Literature, page 1065)
A foundational belief in Christianity is the idea that God is perfectly good. God is unable to do anything evil and all his actions are motives are completely pure. This principle, however, leads to many questions concerning the apparent suffering and wrong-doing that is prevalent in the world that this perfect being created. Where did evil come from? Also, how can evil exist when the only eternal entity is the perfect, sinless, ultimately good God? This question with the principle of God's sovereignty leads to even more difficult problems, including human responsibility and free will. These problems are not limited to our setting, as church fathers and Christian philosophers are the ones who proposed some of the solutions people believe today. As Christianity begins to spread and establish itself across Europe in the centuries after Jesus' resurrection, Augustine and Boethius provide answers, although wordy and complex, to this problem of evil and exactly how humans are responsible in the midst of God's sovereignty and Providence.
In this paper I will look at Thomas Aquinas’ discussion from the Summa Contra Gentiles Book III Chapters 27 to 37 examining the pursuit of happiness and the ultimate source of happiness. I will first discuss the various kinds of happiness which Aquinas describes in the Contra Gentiles and how they may appear at first sight to satisfy the definition of happiness. I will then look at why he refutes these pursuits as the true source of happiness. Secondly, I will look at how the knowledge of God, to Aquinas is the ultimate source of happiness for man even though a full understanding is unattainable in this life. I will then defend this argument which I feel supports that happiness is linked to God and why I believe it is a valid argument.
The play "Oedipus Rex" is a very full and lively one to say the least. Everything a reader could ask for is included in this play. There is excitement, suspense, happiness, sorrow, and much more. Truth is the main theme of the play. Oedipus cannot accept the truth as it comes to him or even where it comes from. He is blinded in his own life, trying to ignore the truth of his life. Oedipus will find out that truth is rock solid. The story is mainly about a young man named Oedipus who is trying to find out more knowledge than he can handle. The story starts off by telling us that Oedipus has seen his moira, his fate, and finds out that in the future he will end up killing his father and marrying his mother. Thinking that his mother and father were Polybos and Merope, the only parents he knew, he ran away from home and went far away so he could change his fate and not end up harming his family. Oedipus will later find out that he cannot change fate because he has no control over it, only the God's can control what happens. Oedipus is a very healthy person with a strong willed mind who will never give up until he gets what he wants. Unfortunately, in this story these will not be good trait to have.
Marcus Aurelius was a famous philosopher in 121 through 180 C.E. He lived a hard life and even though he was surrounded by crowds he was considered a recluse. He was known for his kindness and mercy. The last years of his life were spent on a military campaign. It is said that these years were the hardest and loneliest. However, instead of becoming bitter and angry Aurelius wrote The Meditations. This was a diary or journal of his personal thoughts. He believed that by writing this it was his duty to his soul. The Meditations, is a popular piece of stoic literature. In this paper I will be describing how Aurelius used stoicism in book two of The Meditations and what I liked and did not like about what he said.
Throughout Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, Oedipus frantically searched for the truth, but due to his pride, remained blind to his own connection to the dire plague that infected Thebes.