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Boethius on the Problem of Freedom & Determinism

Boethius on the Problem of Freedom & Determinism. Boethius (480-524 AD) Fluent in both Latin and Greek Familiar with works of both Plato & Aristotle Translated Aristotle’s logical works into Latin Thereby transmits Aristotle’s logical works to early medieval western Europe

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Boethius on the Problem of Freedom & Determinism

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  1. Boethius on the Problem of Freedom & Determinism • Boethius (480-524 AD) • Fluent in both Latin and Greek • Familiar with works of both Plato & Aristotle • Translated Aristotle’s logical works into Latin • Thereby transmits Aristotle’s logical works to early medieval western Europe • Aristotle’s other works remain unknown in western Europe until 1100+

  2. Appointed to the office of Consul by the Roman Emperor Theodoric • Christian, opposed to Arian heresy, which denied the full divinity of Christ and which was espoused by Theodoric • Accused of treason, imprisoned & executed • While imprisoned composed The Consolation of Philosophy, which includes an analysis of the problem of freedom and determinism

  3. Freedom & Determinism • Is Human Freedom Compatible with God’s omniscience? • If God already knows with complete certainty whatever you will ever do, how could your future be up to you to determine? • How could you be genuinely free in planning your life and enacting your plans if God already knows what you will plan and what you will do?

  4. The Preliminary Argument • God foreknows everything that will happen • So, God foreknows my future in full detail • What God foreknows must happen exactly as it does happen • Hence, my future must happen exactly as it does • If my future must happen exactly as it does, then my future is necessary • Thus, my future is necessary • If my future is necessary, then I am not free • Consequently, I am not free!

  5. Boethius Rejects the Preliminary Argument • According to Boethius • The preliminary argument conceals a mistake pertaining to how the concept of necessity appears in the argument • It is true that if my future is necessary, then I am not free • But the argument fails to prove that my future is necessary • In general: knowledge of X does not imply the necessity of X • So, God’s knowledge of my future does not imply the necessity of my future • Augustine was entirely incorrect in supposing that God’s omniscience implies the necessity of what God knows • Hence, the Augustinian argument that begins with the assumption of God’s omniscience fails to prove that all my actions are necessary and, so, fails to prove that I am not free • Hence, Boethius is a compatibilist in the sense that he maintains that God’s omniscience is compatible with human freedom

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