Boethius and Free Will for the Sake of Reason

.aoBoethius, like many other philosophers, feels the need to reason out the existence of free will in Book V of his Consolation of Philosophy. It is a natural question to come up when contemplating matters such the existence of evil amidst God’s providence. In the process though, Boethius and Lady Philosophy stumbled upon a conclusion that I think is worth exploring a bit more: “And human souls are more free…

Boethius and Human Nature

By Faryn Thomas, Jennifer Morse, Joseph Marques, and Robert Carhuayo If evil men have lost their human nature (118), do they still have a will in them left that drives them towards the good (110)? Lady Philosophy explains to Boethius that “any human action presupposes two things: will and ability” (109). She then goes on to say “that the whole effort of man’s will, which is vital in his activities,…