“The last Roman and the first Scholastic.” He translated and commented on the Logic of Aristotle into Latin, transmitting it to the Middle Ages. The Isagoge of Porphyry — which Boethius translated and commented on — (introduction to the Categories) launched the debate of universals that will dominate Scholasticism. Imprisoned and condemned to death by Theodoric, he wrote The Consolation of Philosophy in prison — one of the most widely read works of the Middle Ages.
Key Concepts
- Transmission of Aristotelian logic to medieval Latin
- Dispute of universals: moderate realism
- True happiness = approximation to God; external goods are false goods
- Divine providence and free will: God’s eternity vs. human time
- Fortune as a wheel: everything that rises falls
Influenced by
- Aristotle — logic, philosophy
- Plato — the Good as end
- Plotinus — providence
Influenced
- Anselm of Canterbury — dispute of universals
- Thomas Aquinas — via moderate realism
- All of Scholasticism — intermediary of Aristotle
Works
The Consolation of Philosophy; translations and commentaries of Categories, On Interpretation, Isagoge by Porphyry.
See also
Medieval Philosophy