All That Heaven Allows: Boethius on Divine Foreknowledge, Contingency, and Free Choice

In the last book of The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius develops his solution to the problem of divine foreknowledge and free choice. Interpreters standardly hold that this problem and his solution to it presuppose causal indeterminism. In this paper, I argue that Boethius, following a Neoplaton...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Noble, Christopher Isaac (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Brill 2024
In: Phronesis
Year: 2024, Volume: 69, Issue: 2, Pages: 182-225
Further subjects:B Free Will
B Proclus
B The Consolation of Philosophy
B Boethius
B Eternity
B Foreknowledge
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:In the last book of The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius develops his solution to the problem of divine foreknowledge and free choice. Interpreters standardly hold that this problem and his solution to it presuppose causal indeterminism. In this paper, I argue that Boethius, following a Neoplatonist view found in Proclus, is a causal determinist and compatibilist and maintains that God’s providential knowledge ensures the occurrence of all the events he knows. This alternative interpretation offers a better fit with Boethius’s text and its historical antecedents and provides resources to address the main criticisms of his solution.
ISSN:1568-5284
Contains:Enthalten in: Phronesis
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685284-bja10085