De consolatione philosophiae Boethius's best known work is the
Consolation of Philosophy (), which he wrote at the very end of his career, awaiting his execution in prison. This work represented an imaginary dialogue between himself and philosophy, with philosophy personified as a woman, arguing that despite the apparent inequality of the world, there is, in
Platonic fashion, a higher power and everything else is secondary to that divine Providence. Several manuscripts survived and these were widely edited, translated and printed throughout the late 15th century and later in Europe. Beyond
Consolation of Philosophy, his lifelong project was a deliberate attempt to preserve ancient classical knowledge, particularly philosophy. Boethius intended to translate all the works of
Aristotle and
Plato from the original
Greek into
Latin.
De topicis differentiis His completed translations of Aristotle's works on
logic were the only significant portions of Aristotle available in Latin Christendom from the sixth century until the
rediscovery of Aristotle in the 12th century. However, some of his translations (such as his treatment of the
topoi in
The Topics) were mixed with his own commentary, which reflected both Aristotelian and Platonic concepts. The commentaries themselves have been lost. In addition to his commentary on the Topics, Boethius composed two treatises on Topical argumentation,
In Ciceronis Topica and
De topicis differentiis. The first work has six books, and is largely a response to
Cicero's
Topica. The first book of
In Ciceronis Topica begins with a dedication to Patricius. It includes distinctions and assertions important to Boethius's overall philosophy, such as his view of the role of philosophy as "establish[ing] our judgment concerning the governing of life", and definitions of logic from Plato, Aristotle and Cicero. He breaks logic into three parts: that which defines, that which divides, and that which deduces. He asserts that there are three types of arguments: those of necessity, of ready believability, and sophistry. He follows Aristotle in defining one sort of Topic as the maximal proposition, a proposition which is somehow shown to be universal or readily believable. The other sort of Topic, the differentiae, are "Topics that contain and include the maximal propositions"; means of categorizing the Topics which Boethius credits to Cicero. BookII covers two kinds of topics: those from related things and those from extrinsic topics. BookIII discusses the relationship among things studied through Topics, Topics themselves, and the nature of definition. BookIV analyzes partition, designation and relationships between things (such as pairing, numbering, genus and species, etc.). After a review of his terms, Boethius spends BookV discussing
Stoic logic and Aristotelian causation. BookVI relates the nature of the Topic to causes.
In Topicis Differentiis has four books; BookI discusses the nature of rhetorical and dialectical Topics together, Boethius's overall purpose being "to show what the Topics are, what their differentiae are, and which are suited for what syllogisms." He distinguishes between argument (that which constitutes belief) and argumentation (that which demonstrates belief). Propositions are divided into three parts: those that are universal, those that are particular, and those that are somewhere in between. These distinctions, and others, are applicable to both types of Topical argument, rhetorical and dialectical. BooksII and III are primarily focused on Topics of dialectic (syllogisms), while BookIV concentrates on the unit of the rhetorical Topic, the enthymeme. Topical argumentation is at the core of Boethius's conception of dialectic, which "have categorical rather than conditional conclusions, and he conceives of the discovery of an argument as the discovery of a middle term capable of linking the two terms of the desired conclusion." Not only are these texts of paramount importance to the study of Boethius, they are also crucial to the history of topical lore. It is largely due to Boethius that the Topics of Aristotle and Cicero were revived, and the Boethian tradition of topical argumentation spans its influence throughout the Middle Ages and into the early Renaissance: "In the works of
Ockham,
Buridan,
Albert of Saxony, and the Pseudo-Scotus, for instance, many of the rules of consequence bear a strong resemblance to or are simply identical with certain Boethian Topics ... Boethius's influence, direct and indirect, on this tradition is enormous." It was also in
De Topicis Differentiis that Boethius made a unique contribution to the discourse on dialectic and rhetoric. Topical argumentation for Boethius is dependent upon a new category for the topics discussed by Aristotle and Cicero, and "[u]nlike Aristotle, Boethius recognizes two different types of Topics. First, he says, a Topic is a maximal proposition (
maxima propositio), or principle; but there is a second kind of Topic, which he calls the
differentia of a maximal proposition. Maximal propositions are "propositions [that are] known per se, and no proof can be found for these." This is the basis for the idea that demonstration (or the construction of arguments) is dependent ultimately upon ideas or proofs that are known so well and are so fundamental to human understanding of logic that no other proofs come before it. They must hold true in and of themselves. According to Stump, "the role of maximal propositions in argumentation is to ensure the truth of a conclusion by ensuring the truth of its premises either directly or indirectly."These propositions would be used in constructing arguments through the
Differentia, which is the second part of Boethius' theory. This is "the genus of the intermediate in the argument." So maximal propositions allow room for an argument to be founded in some sense of logic while
differentia are critical for the demonstration and construction of arguments. Boethius' definition of "differentiae" is that they are "the Topics of arguments ... The Topics which are the Differentiae of [maximal] propositions are more universal than those propositions, just as rationality is more universal than man." This is the second part of Boethius' unique contribution to the field of rhetoric.
Differentia operate under maximal propositions to "be of use in finding maximal propositions as well as intermediate terms," or the premises that follow maximal propositions. Though Boethius is drawing from Aristotle's Topics,
Differentiae are not the same as Topics in some ways. Boethius arranges
differentiae through statements, instead of generalized groups as Aristotle does. Stump articulates the difference. They are "expressed as words or phrases whose expansion into appropriate propositions is neither intended nor readily conceivable", unlike Aristotle's clearly defined four groups of Topics. Aristotle had hundreds of topics organized into those four groups, whereas Boethius has twenty-eight "Topics" that are "highly ordered among themselves." This distinction is necessary to understand Boethius as separate from past rhetorical theories. Maximal propositions and
Differentiae belong not only to rhetoric, but also to dialectic. Boethius defines dialectic through an analysis of "thesis" and hypothetical propositions. He claims that "[t]here are two kinds of questions. One is that called, 'thesis' by the [Greek] dialecticians. This is the kind of question which asks about and discusses things stripped of relation to other circumstances; it is the sort of question dialecticians most frequently dispute about—for example, 'Is pleasure the greatest good?' [or] 'Should one marry?'." Dialectic has "dialectical topics" as well as "dialectical-rhetorical topics", all of which are still discussed in
De Topicis Differentiis. Dialectic, especially in BookI, comprises a major component of Boethius' discussion on Topics. Boethius planned to completely translate Plato's
Dialogues, but there is no known surviving translation, if it was actually ever begun.
De arithmetica Boethius chose to pass on the great Greco-Roman culture to future generations by writing manuals on music, astronomy, geometry and arithmetic. Several of Boethius' writings, which were hugely influential during the Middle Ages, drew on the thinking of
Porphyry and
Iamblichus. Boethius wrote a commentary on the
Isagoge by
Porphyry, which highlighted the existence of the
problem of universals: whether these concepts are subsistent entities which would exist whether anyone thought of them, or whether they only exist as ideas. This topic concerning the
ontological nature of universal ideas was one of the most vocal controversies in
medieval philosophy. Besides these advanced philosophical works, Boethius is also reported to have translated important Greek texts on the topics of the
quadrivium His loose translation of
Nicomachus's treatise on arithmetic (
De institutione arithmetica libri duo) and his textbook on music (
De institutione musica libri quinque, unfinished) contributed to medieval education.
De arithmetica begins with modular arithmetic, such as even and odd, evenly even, evenly odd, and oddly even. He then turns to unpredicted complexity by categorizing numbers and parts of numbers. His translations of
Euclid on geometry and
Ptolemy on astronomy, if they were completed, no longer survive. Boethius made Latin translations of Aristotle's
De interpretatione and
Categories with commentaries. In his article
The Ancient Classics in the Mediaeval Libraries, James Stuart Beddie cites Boethius as the reason Aristotle's works were popular in the Middle Ages, as Boethius preserved many of the philosopher's works.
De institutione musica Boethius' or was one of the first musical texts to be printed in Venice between the years of 1491 and 1492. It was written toward the beginning of the sixth century and helped medieval theorists during the ninth century and onwards understand
ancient Greek music. Like his Greek predecessors, Boethius believed that arithmetic and music were intertwined, and helped to mutually reinforce the understanding of each, and together exemplified the fundamental principles of order and harmony in the understanding of the universe as it was known during his time. In
De Musica, Boethius introduced the threefold classification of music: •
Musica mundana –
music of the spheres/world; this "music" was not actually audible and was to be understood rather than heard •
Musica humana – harmony of human body and spiritual harmony •
Musica instrumentalis – instrumental music In
De musica I.2, Boethius describes 'musica instrumentis' as music produced by something under tension (e.g., strings), by wind (e.g., aulos), by water, or by percussion (e.g., cymbals). Boethius himself does not use the term 'instrumentalis', which was used by Adalbold II of Utrecht (9751026) in his
Epistola cum tractatu. The term is much more common in the 13th century and later. It is also in these later texts that
musica instrumentalis is firmly associated with audible music in general, including vocal music. Scholars have traditionally assumed that Boethius also made this connection, possibly under the header of wind instruments ("administratur ... aut spiritu ut tibiis"), but Boethius himself never writes about "instrumentalis" as separate from "instrumentis" explicitly in his very brief description. In one of his works within
De institutione musica, Boethius said that "music is so naturally united with us that we cannot be free from it even if we so desired." During the Middle Ages, Boethius was connected to several texts that were used to teach liberal arts. Although he did not address the subject of trivium, he did write many treatises explaining the principles of rhetoric, grammar, and logic. During the Middle Ages, his works of these disciplines were commonly used when studying the three elementary arts. The historian
R. W. Southern called Boethius "the schoolmaster of medieval Europe." An 1872 German translation of "De Musica" was the magnum opus of
Oscar Paul. Around 140 medieval manuscripts of
De Musica have survived to the present day. The scholar
Christopher de Hamel argues that the copy held at the
Alexander Turnbull Library in New Zealand was originally commissioned and owned by
Thomas Becket, following his appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162.
Opuscula sacra Boethius also wrote Christian theological treatises, which supported orthodox theology and condemned
Arianism and other
heterodox forms of Christianity. Five theological works are known: •
De Trinitate – "The Trinity", where he defends the
Council of Chalcedon Trinitarian position, that God is in three persons who have no differences in nature. He argues against the Arian view of the nature of God, which put him at odds with the faith of the Arian King of Italy. •
Utrum Pater et filius et Spiritus Sanctus de divinitate substantialiter praedicentur – "Whether Father, Son and Holy Spirit are Substantially Predicated of the Divinity", a short work where he uses reason and Aristotelian epistemology to argue that the Catholic views of the nature of God are correct. •
Quomodo substantiae, Boethius' claim that all substances are good. •
De fide catholica – "On the Catholic Faith" •
Contra Eutychen et Nestorium – "Against Eutyches and Nestorius," from , which dates it as the earliest of his theological works. Eutyches and Nestorius were contemporaries in the early to mid-5th century who held divergent Christological theologies. Boethius argues for a middle ground in conformity with Catholic faith. His theological works played an important part during the
Middle Ages in philosophical thought, including the fields of
logic,
ontology, and
metaphysics. == Dates of works ==