The Consolation Of Philosophy By Boethius

Jay Rughani

PHIL 195

Professor Thomas Cavanaugh

Analytical Paper 2

4/5/2014

The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius, considered to be one of the most famous books in the world. As the title suggests the book is about how lady philosophy consoles Boethius before his execution and although some might argue about it being consoling or not, it definitely answers some of the troubling questions that every man has thought of at least once in his life. The question I am going to discuss is about evil.

The argument of evil in the world is one of the most interesting and important passages in the book. The thought of evil having no substance and not existing in this world might not necessarily be an orthodox idea. It is easier to prove logically than the existence of god or devil. Lady philosophy explains this by saying that everyone is looking for happiness but evil people seek happiness in the wrong ways, and they will never reach their goal. Evil people are never going to gain the supreme joy and satisfaction of perfect happiness, and therefore they are not included in all that really exists. Since they can never get the only value that matters which is happiness, any earthly power they have is not actually power at all. Therefore evil people do not exist. To this Boethius agrees but argues that wicked people harm the virtuous and are not punished at all. Philosophy replys to this by saying that the punishment for wicked is their non existence. They are punished by the deeds they do themselves. Boethius here has failed to take into consideration the human element, if humans that are ultimately flawed and cannot understand the real nature of good or evil, take it upon themselves to punish the evil doers among them, that surely is g...

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...t a place can cause huge changes somewhere else. For example, if global warming causes snow to melt and that increases the sea level. Although this example had a direct relationship between the cause and the effect in reality the butterfly effect is much more complicated.

When I look at the last argument I feel that it is some thing made up by Boethius, after all he did write the book to console himself. It says that anything that happens to a person be it good or bad is always good. Because bad events make a person more virtuous. These same believes are used in some cults and terrorists groups, they say that through death a person can gain true happiness by going to heaven. The reality is that we are responsible for our own individual life and our actions define us and out future. So if some thing bad happens to a person he should take actions to make things right.