Customer Reviews
Classic of philosophical thought - By: Rolf Dobelli, 04 Apr 2008 
The next time you have a bad day & get mired in self-pity, think about Boethius. Born into a wealthy Roman family around 480 C.E., Boethius was a successful scholar & politician. Early in his career, he wrote influential treatises on Aristotle's logic & Christian theology. He became a senator & found favor with the rulers of the Roman world, ultimately taking the highest post in the Western government (then located in Ravenna, rather than Rome). But his world fell apart when his king, Theoderic, charged him with treason. Confined to his house & awaiting a particularly gruesome execution (you don't want to know), Boethius comforted himself with philosophical reflection. Working partly in verse & partly in prose, as translated by P.G. Walsh, Boethius crafted a long dialogue with the goddess Philosophy, who slowly convinces him that happiness based on worldly things is fleeting & false, & that true happiness can come only from knowledge of God & his goodness. getAbstract is glad to offer a look at this classic work, which inspired people from Dante to C.S. Lewis, even in their darkest hours.
An amateur's opinion - By: Depressaholic, 19 Nov 2004 
I have been an interested amateur when it comes to philosophy for a while, an interest which mostly manifests itself in reading the odd popular text book or Umberto Eco novel. When I came across a reference to Boethius' 'TCOP' I was sufficiently intrigued to give it a go.
Boethius' was prominent in the court of Theodoric, probably the most powerful man in western Europe following the end of the Roman Empire in c.500 AD. However, Theodoric had Boethius locked up (probably unfairly) as he became paranoid that the Eastern Empire was plotting to overthrow him. 'TCOP' was written in prison by Boethius to explain why he, a good Christian, had apparently been abandoned by Fortune & God, & left to die by execution (which he eventuallly did). It takes the form of a dialogue between Boethius & Philosophy, in which the latter explains the workings of God & his system of rewards & punishments, & why it doesn't always match up to Man's expectations.
The introduction does an excellent job of framing the political, religious & philosophical milieu of the time, explaining both why Boethius ended up where he did & the belief system (neo-platonism) that his dialogue is rooted in, priming the reader to understand everything that follows. However, I think that it would not be accessible without a little knowledge of early medieval philosophy, meaning that this is not a good place to start if you are interested. I don't know much, though, & I got on just fine. This part of the book gets a big thumbs-up. Unforunately, the dialogue itself doesn't. Criticising it as a piece of literature, rather than philosophy, I found it a little dull. It is not reallly a dialogue, so much as a monologue by Philosophy punctuated by the odd 'I see now' from Boethius. It is interesting to see the logic used at the time, but this is a rather dry account, probably because the two people involved in the dialogue agree with each other more-or-less entirely, which always makes for dull conversation. It is only short, & not particularly a struggle to read, so I wouldn't discourage anyone from giving it a go, I just won't be rushing back to read it again.
