Peter Adamson: The Bitter Pill: Lady Philosophy as Healer in Boethius’ Consolation скачать в хорошем качестве

Peter Adamson: The Bitter Pill: Lady Philosophy as Healer in Boethius’ Consolation

This paper explores a central metaphor in Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy, in which Lady Philosophy compares herself to someone offering medical treatment. She explicitly marks this treatment as consisting of several stages, which we try to identify in the paper. Our argument is that her initial therapies quieten the Prisoner’s lower soul or passions without questioning the values attached to these passions; a subsequent round of treatment overturns those values. Thus Lady Philosophy’s approach is adapted to the needs of the Prisoner’s complex psychology. Finally, we suggest that since the Prisoner is already “cured” in book 3 of the Consolation, the remaining arguments are intended to ensure that his cure is permanent and not threatened by remaining false beliefs or objections.