Boetius of Dacia
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Boetius (or Boethius) of Dacia (sometimes called Boetius of Sweden) was a 13th century Swedish or Danish[1] philosopher.
Boetius was born in the first half of the 13th century. He probably held the position of secular cleric and canon of the diocese of Linköping, and went on to teach philosophy at Paris. There he associated with Siger of Brabant, and with Siger (together with such figures as Roger Bacon and Jean Buridan) shared the unusual career path of continuing to teach for some time as arts masters rather than quickly moving on to study in the theology faculty or finding non-academic employment. He was condemned by Stephen Tempier in 1277 as being a leading member of the Averroist movement. Boetius fled Paris with Siger, and appealed to Pope Nicholas III. He was detained at the pontifical curia at Orvieto, and went on to join the Dominicans in Dacia.
Boetius was a follower of Aristotle and Averroes, and wrote on logic, natural philosophy, metaphysics, and ethics, though some of his works have not survived. His central position was that philosophy had to follow the arguments where they led, regardless of their conflict with religious faith. For him, philosophy was the supreme human activity, and in this world only philosophers attained wisdom; in his book On the Highest Good, or On the Life of the Philosopher he offers a fervently Aristotelian description of man's highest good as the rational contemplation of truth and virtue. Among the controversial conclusions that he reached are the impossibility of creation ex nihilo, the eternity of the world and of the human race, and that there could be no resurrection of the dead.
Despite his radical views, Boetius remained a Christian, and attempted to reconcile his religious beliefs with his philosophical position by assigning the investigation of the world and of human nature to philosophy, while to religion he assigned supernatural revelation and divine miracles. He was condemned for holding the doctrine of double truth, though he was careful to avoid calling philosophical conclusions that ran contrary to religion true simpliciter; in each branch of knowledge, one must be careful to qualify one's conclusions. The conclusions that the philosopher reaches are true "according to natural causes and principles" (De Aeternitate Mundi, p. 351). Though philosophers must be free to reach and to discuss such conclusions, faith has a higher source; human reason being fallible, it must give way to faith in matters of genuine conflict.
[edit] Sources
- Boetius of Dacia, "The Sophisma 'Every Man Is of Necessity an Animal'", in Norman Kretzmann & Eleonore Stump [edd & trans.] The Cambridge Translations of Medieval Philosophical texts. Volume One: Logic and the Philosophy of Language (1988, Cambridge University Press; ISBN 0-521-28063-X)
- John Marenbon, Later Medieval Philosophy (1150–1350) (1991, Routledge; ISBN 0-415-06807-X)
- Armand A. Maurer, "Boetius of Dacia", in The Encyclopedia of Philosophy", ed. Paul Edwards (Collier Macmillan, 1967)
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ His origin is disputed and he is maintained have been both Swedish as a Danish
