Talk:Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius

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[edit] How sad!

This is a rather poor showing for arguably the most revered philosopher of the middle ages, and the man solely responsible for the West's knowledge of Aristotle during that period!

Absolutely — this should be a kick-ass featured article. Great additions! — mark ✎ 07:14, 26 May 2005 (UTC)

Also, why are the Pope's supremely banal observations included at the end? Surely there have been scholars with more interesting things to say about Boethius' general contribution to Western culture? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.102.159.149 (talk) 17:20, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Page move

I'm moving this page to Boethius (in other words, removing the diacritic from the title), as this seems to be a much more common English spelling of his name (see, for example, the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Encyclopedia Americana, the Catholic Encyclopedia, or the International Boethius Society, and also along with Wikipedia:Naming conventions (use English). If anybody sees a good reason I shouldn't have done this, though, overrule me or just leave a note here and I'll change it back. --Dvyost 17:39, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

It appears that because of an edit history at the redirect I can't handle this one with admin assistance; this is also a fine chance for anyone who thinks I'm in the wrong on this to chime in below. --Dvyost 17:52, 16 September 2005 (UTC)
There seems to be a general trend to keep names proper and not use nicknames-- see the discussion page at William the Conqueror for more background. Appears to be a somewhat heated issue. Stbalbach 19:18, 16 September 2005 (UTC)
I see where your concern lies, but this I think is more of a spelling issue than a nickname. Even scholarly sources that I can find write his name without the diacritic, and the only Google sites that seem to use this diacritic are our own mirror sites. So again, I guess I'd argue that Wikipedia:Naming conventions (use English) would be the relevant guideline here, rather than the conventions for monarchs cited over at Wm. the Conqueror. Of course, if I'm in the minority on this, I'll happily withdraw my request. --Dvyost 19:57, 16 September 2005 (UTC)
Oh ok i misunderstood I thought you wanted to change the whole title to just "Boethius". In the case of just removing the diacrictic sounds like a good idea. Stbalbach 22:21, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

I concur with the move to the version without a diacritic. I have heard scholars in the field pronounce his name that way ([bo'i.θiəs] but have never seen it written with an 'umlaut'. It appears that the move is uncontroversial; I'm willing to move it today. — mark ✎ 07:16, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

It's a diaeresis, and marks that two adjacent vowels are not a diphthong; it just looks like an umlaut. Somewhat archaic, and properly removed here. Septentrionalis 17:04, 20 September 2005 (UTC)
In fact I've just moved it. Please assist in making all articles link to the new title. — mark ✎ 07:51, 17 September 2005 (UTC)
Done. Much obliged, Mark! --Dvyost 21:30, 20 September 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Repeat Image

As far as I can tell, there's no wikipedia policy barring images from being used in more than one article. I restored the image that was removed. I think it provides a good visual to go along with the "Works" section of the article. Of course others may think otherwise.--Bkwillwm 06:35, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Redirect Boethius to this article

This is a straw poll to decide if Boethius should redirect to this page, or be a separate disambiguation page.

An example of how it should work is Bach, as detailed in Wikipedia:Disambiguation:

  • Bach redirects to Johann Sebastian Bach which then says “Bach” redirects here. For other uses, see Bach (disambiguation).

Boethius should be structured the same way.

[edit] Rules cited

  • According to Wikipedia:Disambiguation on "Deciding to disambiguate":
    • Ask yourself: When a reader enters this term and pushes "Go", what article would they realistically be expecting to view as a result? When there is no risk of confusion, do not disambiguate nor add a link to a disambiguation page.

When a user enters "Boethius" they are "realistically expecting" to see the Philosopher. There is no one else with exactly that name, just some with close spellings, and Boethius is by far the most commonly (and specifically only) known.

  • According to Wikipedia:Redirect on "Other names, pseudonyms, nicknames, and synonyms":
    • This is a redirect from a title that is another name, a pseudonym, a nick name, or a synonym. It leads to the title in accordance with the naming conventions for common names and can help writing.

[edit] Proposed

Boethis should follow the model of Bach. Boethius redirects -> Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, which then has a line at the top which says “Boethius” redirects here. For other uses, see Boethius (disambiguation).

[edit] Support of proposed

  • per nom. --Stbalbach 19:28, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
  • But I don't think thwere would have been that much opposition if someonejust went with it. Circeus 20:09, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
  • support. I'm sorry, Mel, I don't think WP exists to forcibly instruct people. But, until there are more notable Boethii found, the dab should read: For the late medieval philospher, see Boetius of Dacia; for the Swedish family, see Boëthius (family)). (Don't lets get into the philopher's nationality, please; duck nationalist edit wars when possible.) Septentrionalis 22:09, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
    That's OK; I knew that some people (maybe most) would disagree with me — I wanted to air the matter though. I didn't get the bit about nationality, though; were you referring to Boetius of Dacia? --Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 09:21, 5 April 2006 (UTC)
    • Yes, the Dacian/Swede/whatever. Sorry for leaving this ambiguity so long, I've been occupied with my pet enthusiast for the last few days. Septentrionalis 21:14, 10 April 2006 (UTC)
  • Support. "Boethius" on its own should redirect here. Uppland 20:59, 10 April 2006 (UTC)
  • Support. I also would love everybody to know more of Boetius of Dacia, and some would probably say that his philosophy is even more original than that of the Roman Boethius; but honestly, if I hear the word "Boethius" the chances I think about Boetius of Dacia are quite slim.--Aldux 16:27, 12 April 2006 (UTC)
  • Support. Come on, people, this is obvious. Hornplease 08:11, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Opposed to proposed

  • Well, there was opposition I'm afraid (raises guilty hand). There had been no disambiguation page, and I created one; as the Boethius page was doing nothing except redirect, I used it. My view is that there are various people called Boethius, and although people with an interest in philosophy will probably be looking for this one, we shouldn't be second-guessing them. Besides, typing in "Boethius" and discovering that there are two philosophers by that name should be an interesting and educational experience for many. (It's true that this approach made more sense before someone made a new page just for members of a modern family of this name.) --Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 22:03, 4 April 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Recent changes in style and fixes to content

Many of the changes I completed recently basically involve style and readability: splitting up long sentences into shorter ones, replacing awkward or unusual word choices like "posterity" where something like "legacy" is intended, and removing extra links for the same word.

The more substantive changes are:

  • The second paragraph of the "Early Life" section seemed to imply that Theoderic intentionally reduced the influence of the previous classical heritage, when he was actually a strong patron of art and culture.
  • The old third paragraph of the "Early Life" section implied the classical education was almost exclusively literary, when mathematics was actually a significant component of the entire quadrivium.
  • The section on "Works" placed too much emphasis on the Consolation of Philosophy compared to the translations which were his life's work. It also states the opinion regarding his alleged lack of Christian belief as fact, without any explicit citation, while all the sources I saw deny that assertion.

StephenMacmanus 12:33, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Great additions! --Stbalbach 18:45, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Etymology(?)

I'm wondering if the name Boethius has any relationship with Greek Βοηθεια = "assistance" , both in the military or medical sense. Anybody has an idea? Disdero 07:44, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Introduction

The introductory part of this article is confusing and could do with some rewriting to make it clear -- Palthrow 02:54, 25 October 2006 (UTC)