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@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Here’s a convenient way to browse my podcasts on Boethius’ Consolation of Ph
I’ve broken the tables down by book, and have tried to provide sufficient enough of a plain-text description, that you can use the usual CTRL+F hunt, to find what you’re looking for. I hope it helps!
### Book 1 – The Sorrows of Boethius
{{% ah %}} Book 1 – The Sorrows of Boethius {{% /ah %}}
**[Chapters 1 and 2](https://anchor.fm/exitingthecave/episodes/Short-Reads-The-Consolation-of-Philosophy--Chapters-1-and-2-ecd1fk)** – Boethius makes his opening lament, and Philosophy pays him a visit. Boethius is speechless with amazement. Philosophy drives away the Muses of Poetry, and herself laments the disordered condition of his mind.
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**[Chapter 6 and 7](https://anchor.fm/exitingthecave/episodes/Short-Reads-The-Consolation-of-Philosophy--Book-1--Chapters-6-and-7-ed46mf)** – Philosophy tests Boethius’ mental state by certain questions, and discovers three chief causes of his soul’s sickness: (1) He has forgotten his own true nature; (2) he knows not the end towards which the whole universe tends; (3) he knows not the means by which the world is governed. Analysis: Stoic lessons to ward off the passions; Divine order and the Great Wheel; assessment of the literary structure of the whole Consolation of Philosophy.
### Book 2 – The Vanity of Fortune’s Gifts
{{% ah %}} Book 2 – The Vanity of Fortune’s Gifts {{% /ah %}}
[**Chapter 1**](https://anchor.fm/exitingthecave/episodes/Short-Reads-The-Consolation-of-Philosophy--Book-2--Chapter-1-edhg8g) – Philosophy reproves Boethius for the foolishness of his complaints against Fortune. Her very nature is caprice. Analysis: our first introduction to neoplatonism, and three arguments from fortune analyzed.
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**[Chapter 4](https://anchor.fm/exitingthecave/episodes/Short-Reads-The-Consolation-of-Philosophy--Book-2--Chapter-4-eefb2t)** – Boethius objects that the memory of past happiness is the bitterest portion of the lot of the unhappy. Philosophy shows that much is still left for which he may be thankful. None enjoy perfect satisfaction with their lot. But happiness depends not on anything which Fortune can give. It is to be sought within. — Analysis: self-sacrifice as a path to happiness; suffering and happiness; Aristotle contributes to the discussion on **virtue and Eudaimonia**. I do a reading of **Shakespeare’s Hamlet***. Bonus Content: **Jordan Peterson, Roger Scruton**, and the value of cultural literacy.*
[**Chapter 5** ](https://anchor.fm/exitingthecave/episodes/Short-Reads-The-Consolation-of-Philosophy--Book-2--Chapter-5-eeogt5)– All the gifts of Fortune are external; they can never truly be our own. Man cannot find his good in worldly possessions. Riches bring anxiety and trouble. — Analysis: Aristotle, the Summum Bonum, and a summary of the false goods. A reading from **Hesiod’s Works and Days**, and a comparison to Rousseau’s noble savage, and the “General Will” as a distortion of the Catholic Holy Spirit.
[**Chapter 5**](https://anchor.fm/exitingthecave/episodes/Short-Reads-The-Consolation-of-Philosophy--Book-2--Chapter-5-eeogt5) – All the gifts of Fortune are external; they can never truly be our own. Man cannot find his good in worldly possessions. Riches bring anxiety and trouble. — Analysis: Aristotle, the Summum Bonum, and a summary of the false goods. A reading from **Hesiod’s Works and Days**, and a comparison to Rousseau’s noble savage, and the “General Will” as a distortion of the Catholic Holy Spirit.
**[Chapter 6](https://anchor.fm/exitingthecave/episodes/Short-Reads-The-Consolation-of-Philosophy--Book-2--Chapter-6-eer0e0)** – High place without virtue is an evil, not a good. Power is an empty name. Philosophy lectures Boethius on the false promise of power, and **George Orwell** answers her on whether the powerful can indeed get to the rational man (I read a **passage from Orwell’s 1984**). Happiness, honour, power, and the relation between the virtuous and the powerful.
@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ I’ve broken the tables down by book, and have tried to provide sufficient enou
**[Chapter 8](https://anchor.fm/exitingthecave/episodes/Short-Reads-The-Consolation-of-Philosophy--Book-2--Chapter-8-eg1rt1)** – One service only can Fortune do, when she reveals her own nature and distinguishes true friends from false. Philosophy explains the utility of adversity to virtue, and regales us with a paean to divine love. Analysis: Boethius evokes a frustrated aspiration to reconcile Aristotle and Plato, and we begin the transition from Aristotelian virtue, to the Neoplatonic contemplation of The Good. I summarize **The Myth of Er, from Plato’s Republic**, and read a short quote from it, emphasizing the need for the contemplation of knowledge.
### Book 3 – On True and False Happiness
{{% ah %}} Book 3 – On True and False Happiness {{% /ah %}}
**[Chapter 1](https://anchor.fm/exitingthecave/episodes/Short-Reads-The-Consolation-of-Philosophy--Book-3--Chapter-1-egb5j1)** – Boethius beseeches Philosophy to continue. She promises to lead him to true happiness. Philosophy then prepares Boethius for his turn toward the truth. Aristotle and Plato are untwined in the beginning of this book, as Aristotle’s method of imminence gives way to Plato’s method of transcendence.
@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ I’ve broken the tables down by book, and have tried to provide sufficient enou
**[Chapter 12](https://anchor.fm/exitingthecave/episodes/Short-Reads-The-Consolation-of-Philosophy--Book-3--Chapter-12-em8d1p)** – Boethius acknowledges that he is but recollecting truths he once knew. Philosophy goes on to show that it is goodness also by which the whole world is governed (*This solves the third. No distinct account is given of the first, but an answer may be gathered from the general argument of bks. ii., iii., and iv.*) Boethius professes compunction for his former folly. But the paradox of evil is introduced, and he is once more perplexed.
### Book 4 – On Divine Justice
{{% ah %}} Book 4 – On Divine Justice {{% /ah %}}
**[Chapter 1](https://anchor.fm/exitingthecave/episodes/Short-Reads-The-Consolation-of-Philosophy--Book-4--Chapter-1---The-Problem-of-Evil-Restated-emqhru)** – The mystery of the seeming moral confusion. Philosophy engages to make this plain, and to fulfill her former promise to the full
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**Chapter 7** – *POSTPONED* – Thus all fortune is good fortune; for it either rewards, disciplines, amends, or punishes, and so is either useful or just. |
### Book 5 – On Freedom Of The Will And God’s Foreknowledge
{{% ah %}} Book 5 – On Freedom Of The Will And God’s Foreknowledge {{% /ah %}}
**Chapter 1** – *POSTPONED*– Boethius asks if there is really any such thing as chance. Philosophy answers, in conformity with Aristotle’s definition (from Physics, II. iv.), that chance is merely relative to human purpose, and that what seems fortuitous really depends on a more subtle form of causation.
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**CONCLUSION EPISODE** – POSTPONED – WRAP UP, CELEBRATION, AND WHAT THE FUTURE WILL HOLD.
### Appendix – Supplemental Content
<hr/>
{{% ah %}} Appendix – Supplemental Content {{% /ah %}}
**[The Music Of The Consolation](https://anchor.fm/exitingthecave/episodes/Short-Reads-The-Consolation-of-Philosophy---The-Music-Of-The-Consolation-efd6sa)** – This is a musical hiatus from reading and analysis. Please enjoy this brief exploration of the medieval music of The Consolation. NOTE: I did not conduct these interviews. They were done by Cambridge University, in an effort to promote the album created by the project discussed in the interviews. If you’d like to know more about the project, please [visit their website](https://boethius.mus.cam.ac.uk/). If you’d like to purchase the album they created, you can find it on Amazon ([link provided here](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boethius-Songs-Consolation-Sequentia/dp/B07D9CZPR2)).