Bemerkungen zu Substanz und Wissen Gottes in Boethius’ Philosophiae consolatio

Abstract

Boethius’ attempt to clarify the notion of divine providence in the Philosophiae consolatiois based on the conception of divine substance as ›eternity‹. Concerning his distinction between ›providence‹ and ›fate‹, this essay reconsiders and modi;es the view of some modern readers, according to which Boethius’s account entirely depends on Proclus. The fact that Boethius associates the notion of the One or the supreme Good with the notion of eternity suggests a rather free use of Proclus’s ideas. Although the solution of the problem of the ›necessity‹ of future contingent events he proposes is not new, what he has to say on divine ›comprehension‹ does not seem to consist merely in a presentation of views of his Neopla­tonic predecessors.