Participation and the Good A Study in Boethian Metaphysics

by Nash-Marshall, Siobhan

• ISBN13: 9780824518523
• ISBN10: 0824518527
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-01
• Publisher: Herder & Herder

Summary

Siobhan Nash-Marshall analyzes the two metaphysical works by sixth-century writer Boethius Quomodo Substantiae and Consolatio Philosophiae. She finds that he traces the source of people's goodness to their participation in the ultimate goodness of God.

Author Biography

Siobhan Nash-Marshall is Assistant Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Studies at New York University and of philosophy at Fordham University.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Preface	xiii
Part One THE BOETHIAN DOCTRINE OF PARTICIPATION: THE PROBLEM	1	(38)
Participation in the Quomodo Substantiae	5	(5)
Participation in the Consolatio Philosophiae	10	(8)
A Survey of Possible Methodologies	18	(13)
The Historical Problem	20	(4)
The Boethian Corpus	24	(7)
The Direct Theoretical Approach: The Good	31	(8)
The Metaphysics of the Good	31	(6)
Boethius and the Good	37	(2)
Part Two THE GOOD	39	(78)
The Definitions of the Good	41	(28)
The Teleological Good: The Nature of Objects	44	(2)
The Teleological Good: The Relation between Subject and Object	46	(21)
The Good as the Object of Desire	67	(2)
The Two Definitions of the Good and Their Paradoxes	69	(4)
The Foundations of a Solution	73	(25)
Substantiality and Real Relations	76	(22)
The Elements of a Solution	98	(10)
An Analysis of the Definitions	99	(2)
A Deduction from the Definitions	101	(7)
Outline of the Solution	108	(6)
The Exitus and the Reditus of the Good	109	(4)
The Good	113	(1)
Conclusion	114	(3)
Part Three BOETHIUS AND THE GOOD: THE QUOMODO SUBSTANTIAE AND CONSOLATIO PHILOSOPHIAE	117	(106)
The Exitus: The Quomodo Substantiae	119	(67)
Interpretations of the Solution	121	(20)
The Quomodo Substantiae: The Problem	141	(17)
Preliminaries to the Solution	158	(6)
The Solution	164	(14)
Objections	178	(5)
The Good in the Quomodo Substantiae	183	(3)
The Consolatio Philosophiae	186	(37)
The Consolatio's Object and Structure	191	(7)
The Good	198	(12)
Freedom and God	210	(9)
The Consolatio's Reditus	219	(4)
Part Four PARTICIPATION	223	(68)
The Quomodo Substantiae	225	(49)
The Quomodo and the Causes of Complex Things' Substantial Goodness	226	(4)
The Quomodo's Axioms: Interpretations	230	(16)
The Quomodo's Axioms	246	(17)
The Axiom's Metaphysics and Doctrine of Participation	263	(2)
Sed Contra	265	(6)
Universals Ante Rem	271	(3)
The Consolatio Philosophiae	274	(17)
The Consolatio and the Causes of Complex Things' Perfection	275	(10)
Participation in the Consolatio	285	(6)
Part Five CONCLUSION	291	(8)
Bibliography	299	(6)
Index	305