Henry Mayr-Harting
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199210718
- eISBN:
- 9780191705755
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199210718.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Integrating the brilliant biography of Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne (953-65) and brother of Emperor Otto I, written by the otherwise obscure monk Ruotger, with the intellectual culture of Cologne ...
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Integrating the brilliant biography of Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne (953-65) and brother of Emperor Otto I, written by the otherwise obscure monk Ruotger, with the intellectual culture of Cologne Cathedral, this book provides a study of actual politics in conjunction with Ottonian ruler ethic. Our knowledge of Cologne intellectual activity in the period, apart from Ruotger, must be pieced together mainly from marginal annotations and glosses in surviving Cologne manuscripts, showing how and with what concerns some of the most important books of the Latin West were read in Bruno's and Ruotger's Cologne. These include Pope Gregory the Great's Letters, Prudentius's Psychomachia, Boethius's Arithmetic, and Martianus Capella's Marriage of Philology and Mercury. The writing in the margins of the manuscripts, besides enlarging our picture of thinking in Cologne in itself, can be drawn into comparison with the outlook of Ruotger. Exploring how distinctive Cologne was, compared with other centres, this book brings out an unexpectedly strong thread of Platonism in the 10th-century intellect. The book includes a critical edition of probably the earliest surviving, and hitherto unpublished, set of glosses to Boethius's Arithmetic, with an extensive study of their content.Less
Integrating the brilliant biography of Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne (953-65) and brother of Emperor Otto I, written by the otherwise obscure monk Ruotger, with the intellectual culture of Cologne Cathedral, this book provides a study of actual politics in conjunction with Ottonian ruler ethic. Our knowledge of Cologne intellectual activity in the period, apart from Ruotger, must be pieced together mainly from marginal annotations and glosses in surviving Cologne manuscripts, showing how and with what concerns some of the most important books of the Latin West were read in Bruno's and Ruotger's Cologne. These include Pope Gregory the Great's Letters, Prudentius's Psychomachia, Boethius's Arithmetic, and Martianus Capella's Marriage of Philology and Mercury. The writing in the margins of the manuscripts, besides enlarging our picture of thinking in Cologne in itself, can be drawn into comparison with the outlook of Ruotger. Exploring how distinctive Cologne was, compared with other centres, this book brings out an unexpectedly strong thread of Platonism in the 10th-century intellect. The book includes a critical edition of probably the earliest surviving, and hitherto unpublished, set of glosses to Boethius's Arithmetic, with an extensive study of their content.
Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195107630
- eISBN:
- 9780199852956
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195107630.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This book examines the three leading traditional solutions to the dilemma of divine foreknowledge and human free will—those arising from Boethius, William of Ockham, and Luis de Molina. Though all ...
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This book examines the three leading traditional solutions to the dilemma of divine foreknowledge and human free will—those arising from Boethius, William of Ockham, and Luis de Molina. Though all three solutions are rejected in their best-known forms, three new solutions are proposed, and the book concludes that divine foreknowledge is compatible with human freedom. The discussion includes the relation between the foreknowledge dilemma and problems about the nature of time and the causal relation; the logic of counterfactual conditionals; and the differences between divine and human knowing states. An appendix introduces a new foreknowledge dilemma that purports to show that omniscient foreknowledge conflicts with deep intuitions about temporal asymmetry, quite apart from considerations of free will. This book shows that only a narrow range of solutions can handle this new dilemma.Less
This book examines the three leading traditional solutions to the dilemma of divine foreknowledge and human free will—those arising from Boethius, William of Ockham, and Luis de Molina. Though all three solutions are rejected in their best-known forms, three new solutions are proposed, and the book concludes that divine foreknowledge is compatible with human freedom. The discussion includes the relation between the foreknowledge dilemma and problems about the nature of time and the causal relation; the logic of counterfactual conditionals; and the differences between divine and human knowing states. An appendix introduces a new foreknowledge dilemma that purports to show that omniscient foreknowledge conflicts with deep intuitions about temporal asymmetry, quite apart from considerations of free will. This book shows that only a narrow range of solutions can handle this new dilemma.
Rivkah Zim
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691161808
- eISBN:
- 9781400852093
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691161808.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Boethius wrote Of the Consolation of Philosophy as a prisoner condemned to death for treason, circumstances that are reflected in the themes and concerns of its evocative poetry and dialogue between ...
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Boethius wrote Of the Consolation of Philosophy as a prisoner condemned to death for treason, circumstances that are reflected in the themes and concerns of its evocative poetry and dialogue between the prisoner and his mentor, Lady Philosophy. This classic philosophical statement of late antiquity has had an enduring influence on Western thought. It is also the earliest example of what this book identifies as a distinctive and vitally important medium of literary resistance: writing in captivity by prisoners of conscience and persecuted minorities. This book reveals why the great contributors to this tradition of prison writing are among the most crucial figures in Western literature. The book pairs writers from different periods and cultural settings, carefully examining the rhetorical strategies they used in captivity, often under the threat of death. It looks at Boethius and Dietrich Bonhoeffer as philosophers and theologians writing in defense of their ideas, and Thomas More and Antonio Gramsci as politicians in dialogue with established concepts of church and state. Different ideas of grace and disgrace occupied John Bunyan and Oscar Wilde in prison; Madame Roland and Anne Frank wrote themselves into history in various forms of memoir; and Jean Cassou and Irina Ratushinskaya voiced their resistance to totalitarianism through lyric poetry that saved their lives and inspired others. Finally, Primo Levi's writing after his release from Auschwitz recalls and decodes the obscenity of systematic genocide and its aftermath. This book speaks to some of the most profound questions about life, enriching our understanding of what it is to be human.Less
Boethius wrote Of the Consolation of Philosophy as a prisoner condemned to death for treason, circumstances that are reflected in the themes and concerns of its evocative poetry and dialogue between the prisoner and his mentor, Lady Philosophy. This classic philosophical statement of late antiquity has had an enduring influence on Western thought. It is also the earliest example of what this book identifies as a distinctive and vitally important medium of literary resistance: writing in captivity by prisoners of conscience and persecuted minorities. This book reveals why the great contributors to this tradition of prison writing are among the most crucial figures in Western literature. The book pairs writers from different periods and cultural settings, carefully examining the rhetorical strategies they used in captivity, often under the threat of death. It looks at Boethius and Dietrich Bonhoeffer as philosophers and theologians writing in defense of their ideas, and Thomas More and Antonio Gramsci as politicians in dialogue with established concepts of church and state. Different ideas of grace and disgrace occupied John Bunyan and Oscar Wilde in prison; Madame Roland and Anne Frank wrote themselves into history in various forms of memoir; and Jean Cassou and Irina Ratushinskaya voiced their resistance to totalitarianism through lyric poetry that saved their lives and inspired others. Finally, Primo Levi's writing after his release from Auschwitz recalls and decodes the obscenity of systematic genocide and its aftermath. This book speaks to some of the most profound questions about life, enriching our understanding of what it is to be human.
John Marenbon
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691142555
- eISBN:
- 9781400866359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691142555.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter considers Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, which was written around 524 CE. A striking contrast to Augustine's answer to the Problem of Paganism, the Consolation of Philosophy was ...
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This chapter considers Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, which was written around 524 CE. A striking contrast to Augustine's answer to the Problem of Paganism, the Consolation of Philosophy was translated into the gamut of medieval vernaculars, from Old High German to Hebrew. The Consolation does not obviously put forward an answer, or even state the Problem of Paganism, and on the reading followed by many specialists, Boethius was not concerned with it at all. This chapter argues that their judgement is wrong, and emphasises that the Consolation needs to be considered as a complex literary work that can be properly understood only when placed in its author's unusual cultural context.Less
This chapter considers Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, which was written around 524 CE. A striking contrast to Augustine's answer to the Problem of Paganism, the Consolation of Philosophy was translated into the gamut of medieval vernaculars, from Old High German to Hebrew. The Consolation does not obviously put forward an answer, or even state the Problem of Paganism, and on the reading followed by many specialists, Boethius was not concerned with it at all. This chapter argues that their judgement is wrong, and emphasises that the Consolation needs to be considered as a complex literary work that can be properly understood only when placed in its author's unusual cultural context.
Rivkah Zim
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691161808
- eISBN:
- 9781400852093
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691161808.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to explore the similar forms, themes, and functions that tend to recur in the prison writing of European intellectuals. The book ...
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This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to explore the similar forms, themes, and functions that tend to recur in the prison writing of European intellectuals. The book juxtaposes different pairs of writers across national and period boundaries, from late antiquity to the late twentieth century. Although the experience of different centuries and regimes varies greatly and there is no single category of space implied—all the subjects of this book suffered involuntary confinement in different conditions—being a prisoner or captive in any period means being cut off and kept apart from the continuities of normal life, however that was defined. Many of these prisoners remain well known—Boethius, Thomas More, John Bunyan, Marie-Jeanne Roland, Oscar Wilde, Antonio Gramsci, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Anne Frank, and Primo Levi. Yet their different kinds of writing in captivity have never been read alongside each other so closely and extensively as specific responses to their various kinds of imprisonment.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to explore the similar forms, themes, and functions that tend to recur in the prison writing of European intellectuals. The book juxtaposes different pairs of writers across national and period boundaries, from late antiquity to the late twentieth century. Although the experience of different centuries and regimes varies greatly and there is no single category of space implied—all the subjects of this book suffered involuntary confinement in different conditions—being a prisoner or captive in any period means being cut off and kept apart from the continuities of normal life, however that was defined. Many of these prisoners remain well known—Boethius, Thomas More, John Bunyan, Marie-Jeanne Roland, Oscar Wilde, Antonio Gramsci, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Anne Frank, and Primo Levi. Yet their different kinds of writing in captivity have never been read alongside each other so closely and extensively as specific responses to their various kinds of imprisonment.
Rivkah Zim
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691161808
- eISBN:
- 9781400852093
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691161808.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter demonstrates how Boethius' text established many of the themes and forms that spoke to and for later writers in prison. These include: consolation from the expressive power of ordered ...
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This chapter demonstrates how Boethius' text established many of the themes and forms that spoke to and for later writers in prison. These include: consolation from the expressive power of ordered lyric meters set against the disorder of injustice and suffering in the real world; the importance of a well-stocked mind and imagination in maintaining resistance to oppression; and the expressive potential of paradox in reconciling apparent contraries and celebrating the creativity that may arise under situations of adversity. The text also promoted the subtle simplicity of dialectic and patterns of opposing binaries used to resolve impossible tensions in apparently progressive forms of logical argument and related forms of dialogic exchange between different points of view represented in argument, correspondence, and intertextual allusiveness. Finally, it demonstrated the urgent need often experienced in the condemned cell to set the record straight (to name names) or to construct a memorial image of the authorial self and, more objectively, to testify for humankind by offering insights derived from the prisoner's experience.Less
This chapter demonstrates how Boethius' text established many of the themes and forms that spoke to and for later writers in prison. These include: consolation from the expressive power of ordered lyric meters set against the disorder of injustice and suffering in the real world; the importance of a well-stocked mind and imagination in maintaining resistance to oppression; and the expressive potential of paradox in reconciling apparent contraries and celebrating the creativity that may arise under situations of adversity. The text also promoted the subtle simplicity of dialectic and patterns of opposing binaries used to resolve impossible tensions in apparently progressive forms of logical argument and related forms of dialogic exchange between different points of view represented in argument, correspondence, and intertextual allusiveness. Finally, it demonstrated the urgent need often experienced in the condemned cell to set the record straight (to name names) or to construct a memorial image of the authorial self and, more objectively, to testify for humankind by offering insights derived from the prisoner's experience.
Katherin A. Rogers
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199231676
- eISBN:
- 9780191716089
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231676.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, General
Classical theism holds that God is the Creator omnium — the absolute source of all that has ontological status. Boethius, following Augustine, holds that God is the cause of everything apparently ...
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Classical theism holds that God is the Creator omnium — the absolute source of all that has ontological status. Boethius, following Augustine, holds that God is the cause of everything apparently including the choice to sin. Johannes Scotus Eriugena proposes, in an undeveloped and provocative way, that God does not know or cause evil at all. Anselm agrees, but offers an analysis of how God causes every thing and every positive property, leaving only the nothing of evil to originate with created agents.Less
Classical theism holds that God is the Creator omnium — the absolute source of all that has ontological status. Boethius, following Augustine, holds that God is the cause of everything apparently including the choice to sin. Johannes Scotus Eriugena proposes, in an undeveloped and provocative way, that God does not know or cause evil at all. Anselm agrees, but offers an analysis of how God causes every thing and every positive property, leaving only the nothing of evil to originate with created agents.
Katherin A. Rogers
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199231676
- eISBN:
- 9780191716089
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231676.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, General
The most popular contemporary approach for reconciling libertarian freedom with divine foreknowledge is Molinism, but the view is fraught with problems and conflicts with classical theism. The other ...
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The most popular contemporary approach for reconciling libertarian freedom with divine foreknowledge is Molinism, but the view is fraught with problems and conflicts with classical theism. The other popular move is Open Theism, a simple rejection of divine foreknowledge. Neither position could be accepted by Anselm. Augustine and Boethius are both compatibilists, yet both lay important groundwork for Anselm's solution to the dilemma, especially through their meditations on time and eternity.Less
The most popular contemporary approach for reconciling libertarian freedom with divine foreknowledge is Molinism, but the view is fraught with problems and conflicts with classical theism. The other popular move is Open Theism, a simple rejection of divine foreknowledge. Neither position could be accepted by Anselm. Augustine and Boethius are both compatibilists, yet both lay important groundwork for Anselm's solution to the dilemma, especially through their meditations on time and eternity.
Constant J. Mews
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195156881
- eISBN:
- 9780199835423
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195156889.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
The Early Years: Roscelin of Compiègne and William of Champeaux. This chapter examines Abelard’s intellectual debt to both the vocalist theories of Roscelin of Compiègne and ...
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The Early Years: Roscelin of Compiègne and William of Champeaux. This chapter examines Abelard’s intellectual debt to both the vocalist theories of Roscelin of Compiègne and William of Champeaux’s teaching about dialectic in shaping his philosophical nominalism. By looking at the earliest records of Abelard’s teaching of dialectic and glosses on Aristotle, Porphyry and Boethius, it observes how students identified him as an iconoclast teacher, who quickly provoked laughter by the examples that he chose. It traces how Abelard’s early conflict with his teachers laid the foundation for the subsequent difficulties he would experience in his career.Less
The Early Years: Roscelin of Compiègne and William of Champeaux. This chapter examines Abelard’s intellectual debt to both the vocalist theories of Roscelin of Compiègne and William of Champeaux’s teaching about dialectic in shaping his philosophical nominalism. By looking at the earliest records of Abelard’s teaching of dialectic and glosses on Aristotle, Porphyry and Boethius, it observes how students identified him as an iconoclast teacher, who quickly provoked laughter by the examples that he chose. It traces how Abelard’s early conflict with his teachers laid the foundation for the subsequent difficulties he would experience in his career.
Constant J. Mews
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195156881
- eISBN:
- 9780199835423
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195156889.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Challenging Tradition: the Dialectica. This chapter examines Abelard’s Dialectica, his first major treatise on dialectic. The treatise is structured around an analysis both of the ...
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Challenging Tradition: the Dialectica. This chapter examines Abelard’s Dialectica, his first major treatise on dialectic. The treatise is structured around an analysis both of the major parts of speech, categories and of different kinds of argument, categorical and hypothetical. It argues that a driving theme is Abelard’s desire to counter the philosophically realist arguments presented by William of Champeaux.Less
Challenging Tradition: the Dialectica. This chapter examines Abelard’s Dialectica, his first major treatise on dialectic. The treatise is structured around an analysis both of the major parts of speech, categories and of different kinds of argument, categorical and hypothetical. It argues that a driving theme is Abelard’s desire to counter the philosophically realist arguments presented by William of Champeaux.
Constant J. Mews
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195156881
- eISBN:
- 9780199835423
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195156889.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Returning to Logica. This chapter examines the Logica ‘Ingredientibus’, a series of commentaries on Porphyry, Aristotle, and Boethius more profound than any of his earlier glosses. ...
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Returning to Logica. This chapter examines the Logica ‘Ingredientibus’, a series of commentaries on Porphyry, Aristotle, and Boethius more profound than any of his earlier glosses. I argue that in these commentaries Abelard adopts a much more profound theory of universals and of other parts of speech than in the Dialectica. Rather than emphasizing differences of opinion with William of Champeaux, they demonstrate how far Abelard had come to distance himself from the arguments of Boethius. Instead of speaking uniquely about dialectic, he is now interested in logica, the arts of language in general.Less
Returning to Logica. This chapter examines the Logica ‘Ingredientibus’, a series of commentaries on Porphyry, Aristotle, and Boethius more profound than any of his earlier glosses. I argue that in these commentaries Abelard adopts a much more profound theory of universals and of other parts of speech than in the Dialectica. Rather than emphasizing differences of opinion with William of Champeaux, they demonstrate how far Abelard had come to distance himself from the arguments of Boethius. Instead of speaking uniquely about dialectic, he is now interested in logica, the arts of language in general.
Henry Mayr‐Harting
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199210718
- eISBN:
- 9780191705755
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199210718.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter begins with a discussion of Boethius' De Arithmetica, the most important conveyor of ancient arithmetic to the early Middle Ages. It analyses several other Arithmetic manuscripts with ...
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This chapter begins with a discussion of Boethius' De Arithmetica, the most important conveyor of ancient arithmetic to the early Middle Ages. It analyses several other Arithmetic manuscripts with glosses, and argues that even in those whose arithmetical interest predominates, that a Platonist streak constantly surfaces. What distinguishes the Cologne glosses is their integrity and consistent sense of purpose in elucidating their Platonist text. No displays of irrelevant knowledge, no flying off at every attractive tangent, no highfaluting intellectual descants for them. And in their purpose — provided we recognize that Platonism may serve to articulate various kinds of holistic views of the world and cosmos — we may have one clue to why Ruotger, and surely Bruno, attached importance to the liberal arts for the sake of rule.Less
This chapter begins with a discussion of Boethius' De Arithmetica, the most important conveyor of ancient arithmetic to the early Middle Ages. It analyses several other Arithmetic manuscripts with glosses, and argues that even in those whose arithmetical interest predominates, that a Platonist streak constantly surfaces. What distinguishes the Cologne glosses is their integrity and consistent sense of purpose in elucidating their Platonist text. No displays of irrelevant knowledge, no flying off at every attractive tangent, no highfaluting intellectual descants for them. And in their purpose — provided we recognize that Platonism may serve to articulate various kinds of holistic views of the world and cosmos — we may have one clue to why Ruotger, and surely Bruno, attached importance to the liberal arts for the sake of rule.
Henry Mayr‐Harting
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199210718
- eISBN:
- 9780191705755
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199210718.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter analyses the glosses to Boethius' De Arithmetica in Cologne Ms. 186. All the glosses appear to be written in one hand, except for Est autem (no. 52) and Profundissimam (no. 53), which ...
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This chapter analyses the glosses to Boethius' De Arithmetica in Cologne Ms. 186. All the glosses appear to be written in one hand, except for Est autem (no. 52) and Profundissimam (no. 53), which are written in different hands from the others and from each other, but they are still undoubtedly 10th century. It is argued that the glosses fall within a date to have commanded the interest of Bruno, or at the very least to have met an interest soon afterwards which he himself had initially stimulated by his zeal for the study of the liberal arts.Less
This chapter analyses the glosses to Boethius' De Arithmetica in Cologne Ms. 186. All the glosses appear to be written in one hand, except for Est autem (no. 52) and Profundissimam (no. 53), which are written in different hands from the others and from each other, but they are still undoubtedly 10th century. It is argued that the glosses fall within a date to have commanded the interest of Bruno, or at the very least to have met an interest soon afterwards which he himself had initially stimulated by his zeal for the study of the liberal arts.
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780856684760
- eISBN:
- 9781800343047
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9780856684760.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
Cicero and Boethius did more than anyone else to transmit the insights of Greek philosophy to the Latin culture of Western Europe which has played so influential a part in our civilisation to this ...
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Cicero and Boethius did more than anyone else to transmit the insights of Greek philosophy to the Latin culture of Western Europe which has played so influential a part in our civilisation to this day. Cicero's treatise On Fate (De Fato), though surviving only in a fragmentary and mutilated state, records contributions to the discussion of a central philosophical issue, that of free will and determinism, which are comparable in importance to those of twentieth-century philosophers and indeed sometimes anticipate them. Study of the treatise has been hindered by the lack of a combined Latin text and English translation based on a clear understanding of the arguments; this edition is intended to meet this need. The last book of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy (Philosophiae Consolationis) is linked with Cicero's treatise by its theme, the relation of divine foreknowledge to human freedom. The book presents Latin text with facing-page English translation, introduction and commentary.Less
Cicero and Boethius did more than anyone else to transmit the insights of Greek philosophy to the Latin culture of Western Europe which has played so influential a part in our civilisation to this day. Cicero's treatise On Fate (De Fato), though surviving only in a fragmentary and mutilated state, records contributions to the discussion of a central philosophical issue, that of free will and determinism, which are comparable in importance to those of twentieth-century philosophers and indeed sometimes anticipate them. Study of the treatise has been hindered by the lack of a combined Latin text and English translation based on a clear understanding of the arguments; this edition is intended to meet this need. The last book of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy (Philosophiae Consolationis) is linked with Cicero's treatise by its theme, the relation of divine foreknowledge to human freedom. The book presents Latin text with facing-page English translation, introduction and commentary.
Paul Helm
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199590391
- eISBN:
- 9780191595516
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199590391.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysics/Epistemology
The alleged incompatibility between divine foreknowledge and human freedom is discussed. Since for a timeless God foreknowledge is not strictly before, does timelessness solve the problem of ...
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The alleged incompatibility between divine foreknowledge and human freedom is discussed. Since for a timeless God foreknowledge is not strictly before, does timelessness solve the problem of foreknowledge and freedom as Boethius argued? It does not. The prima facie incompatibility remains. Foreknowledge is explored further. It is argued that, properly understood, a timeless God may be said to foreknow events. The sense of the claim that God timelessly knows what is happening now is discussed. Different senses of the necessity of God's knowledge, including the necessity of pastness, are clarified. Even though it makes sense to suppose that a timeless God has foreknowledge, such timeless knowledge does not provide a way for reconciling divine foreknowledge and human freedom.Less
The alleged incompatibility between divine foreknowledge and human freedom is discussed. Since for a timeless God foreknowledge is not strictly before, does timelessness solve the problem of foreknowledge and freedom as Boethius argued? It does not. The prima facie incompatibility remains. Foreknowledge is explored further. It is argued that, properly understood, a timeless God may be said to foreknow events. The sense of the claim that God timelessly knows what is happening now is discussed. Different senses of the necessity of God's knowledge, including the necessity of pastness, are clarified. Even though it makes sense to suppose that a timeless God has foreknowledge, such timeless knowledge does not provide a way for reconciling divine foreknowledge and human freedom.
Daniel Wakelin
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199215881
- eISBN:
- 9780191706899
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199215881.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
This chapter argues that humanism affected English literature long before 1500, and contrasts the common claims that it did not. It briefly considers various definitions of the word humanism and ...
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This chapter argues that humanism affected English literature long before 1500, and contrasts the common claims that it did not. It briefly considers various definitions of the word humanism and their connection with periodization, which it criticizes. It argues that we should consider humanism as a form of reading, which would allow us to keep in mind the unpredictability of the reading process and thus of humanism. For a case-study, the chapter considers, through marginalia and page-layout, the reading and reception of Boece by Geoffrey Chaucer and of the translation of Boethius and Vegetius by John Walton. This case-study reveals the variety of methods of vernacular humanist reading and the difference between humanist reading and earlier vernacular scholarship.Less
This chapter argues that humanism affected English literature long before 1500, and contrasts the common claims that it did not. It briefly considers various definitions of the word humanism and their connection with periodization, which it criticizes. It argues that we should consider humanism as a form of reading, which would allow us to keep in mind the unpredictability of the reading process and thus of humanism. For a case-study, the chapter considers, through marginalia and page-layout, the reading and reception of Boece by Geoffrey Chaucer and of the translation of Boethius and Vegetius by John Walton. This case-study reveals the variety of methods of vernacular humanist reading and the difference between humanist reading and earlier vernacular scholarship.
Hugh White
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198187301
- eISBN:
- 9780191674693
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187301.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
The 12th-century texts considered in this chapter offers images of Nature which in some respects differ. The Architrenius' Nature perhaps has the widest competence and the greatest moral efficacy, ...
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The 12th-century texts considered in this chapter offers images of Nature which in some respects differ. The Architrenius' Nature perhaps has the widest competence and the greatest moral efficacy, whereas the Natures of the Cosmography and the Anticlaudianus are unable to create the human soul. Whatever the differences and whatever the limitations some of the figures display, the Natures in all these works are trying to work for the good: as agents of creation and procreation, they have their appointed place in the divine plan.Less
The 12th-century texts considered in this chapter offers images of Nature which in some respects differ. The Architrenius' Nature perhaps has the widest competence and the greatest moral efficacy, whereas the Natures of the Cosmography and the Anticlaudianus are unable to create the human soul. Whatever the differences and whatever the limitations some of the figures display, the Natures in all these works are trying to work for the good: as agents of creation and procreation, they have their appointed place in the divine plan.
Alfred P. Smyth
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198229896
- eISBN:
- 9780191678936
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198229896.003.0018
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
This chapter discusses the list of original works from the hand of King Alfred as well as translations of Latin writers from Late Antiquity. It begins with the king's own comments on his writings and ...
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This chapter discusses the list of original works from the hand of King Alfred as well as translations of Latin writers from Late Antiquity. It begins with the king's own comments on his writings and tells very definitely in his prefatory letter to the Pastoral Care that he translated the work of Pope Gregory's into English. It also examines Alfred claims that he commissioned his friends to produce the Dialogues for him in his prose preface to Gregory's Dialogues. It also notes that the prose preface to the Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius opens with the claim that ‘King Alfred was the translator of this book’. It further provides that Alfred informs us that he commissioned the Law Code which bears his name, the king's Will and those genuine charters which were drawn up for the king. It notes that these are the only instances for direct evidence for a claim for Alfred's authorship.Less
This chapter discusses the list of original works from the hand of King Alfred as well as translations of Latin writers from Late Antiquity. It begins with the king's own comments on his writings and tells very definitely in his prefatory letter to the Pastoral Care that he translated the work of Pope Gregory's into English. It also examines Alfred claims that he commissioned his friends to produce the Dialogues for him in his prose preface to Gregory's Dialogues. It also notes that the prose preface to the Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius opens with the claim that ‘King Alfred was the translator of this book’. It further provides that Alfred informs us that he commissioned the Law Code which bears his name, the king's Will and those genuine charters which were drawn up for the king. It notes that these are the only instances for direct evidence for a claim for Alfred's authorship.
Henry Chadwick
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198265498
- eISBN:
- 9780191682896
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198265498.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies, Philosophy of Religion
The Consolations of Philosophy by Boethius, whose English translators include King Alfred, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Queen Elizabeth I, ranks among the most remarkable books to be written by a prisoner ...
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The Consolations of Philosophy by Boethius, whose English translators include King Alfred, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Queen Elizabeth I, ranks among the most remarkable books to be written by a prisoner awaiting the execution of a tyrannical death sentence. Its interpretation is bound up with his other writings on mathematics and music, on Aristotelian and propositional logic, and on central themes of Christian dogma. This book begins by tracing the career of Boethius, a Roman rising to high office under the Gothic King Theoderic the Great, and suggests that his death may be seen as a cruel by-product of Byzantine ambitions to restore Roman imperial rule after its elimination in the West in AD 476. Subsequent chapters examine in detail his educational programme in the liberal arts, designed to avert a threatened collapse of culture, and his ambition to translate into Latin everything he could find on Plato and Aristotle. Boethius has been called the ‘last of the Romans, first of the scholastics’. This book is the first major study in English of the writer, who was of critical importance in the history of thought.Less
The Consolations of Philosophy by Boethius, whose English translators include King Alfred, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Queen Elizabeth I, ranks among the most remarkable books to be written by a prisoner awaiting the execution of a tyrannical death sentence. Its interpretation is bound up with his other writings on mathematics and music, on Aristotelian and propositional logic, and on central themes of Christian dogma. This book begins by tracing the career of Boethius, a Roman rising to high office under the Gothic King Theoderic the Great, and suggests that his death may be seen as a cruel by-product of Byzantine ambitions to restore Roman imperial rule after its elimination in the West in AD 476. Subsequent chapters examine in detail his educational programme in the liberal arts, designed to avert a threatened collapse of culture, and his ambition to translate into Latin everything he could find on Plato and Aristotle. Boethius has been called the ‘last of the Romans, first of the scholastics’. This book is the first major study in English of the writer, who was of critical importance in the history of thought.
Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195107630
- eISBN:
- 9780199852956
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195107630.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
The problem of divine foreknowledge forces the religious person to give up one of a pair of beliefs both of which are central to Christian practice. These beliefs are, first, that God has infallibly ...
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The problem of divine foreknowledge forces the religious person to give up one of a pair of beliefs both of which are central to Christian practice. These beliefs are, first, that God has infallibly true beliefs about everything that will happen in the future, and second, that human beings have free will in a sense of the “free” is something that is incompatible with determinism. A strong form of the dilemma of foreknowledge can be generated from just two properties that are consequences of essential omniscience: the property of knowing the future and infallibility. This chapter presents the strongest general form of the dilemma it can devise and shows how it differs from weaker foreknowledge dilemmas and from the problem of future truth. This chapter also argues that the premise of the necessity of the past is much more plausible in the argument for theological fatalism than in the argument for logical fatalism. It examines the three leading traditional solutions to the dilemma of divine foreknowledge and human free will—those arising from William of Ockham, Luis de Molina, and Boethius.Less
The problem of divine foreknowledge forces the religious person to give up one of a pair of beliefs both of which are central to Christian practice. These beliefs are, first, that God has infallibly true beliefs about everything that will happen in the future, and second, that human beings have free will in a sense of the “free” is something that is incompatible with determinism. A strong form of the dilemma of foreknowledge can be generated from just two properties that are consequences of essential omniscience: the property of knowing the future and infallibility. This chapter presents the strongest general form of the dilemma it can devise and shows how it differs from weaker foreknowledge dilemmas and from the problem of future truth. This chapter also argues that the premise of the necessity of the past is much more plausible in the argument for theological fatalism than in the argument for logical fatalism. It examines the three leading traditional solutions to the dilemma of divine foreknowledge and human free will—those arising from William of Ockham, Luis de Molina, and Boethius.
