Consolation Of Philosophy

Philosophy explains that all human beings are striving toward the same goal: happiness. This is the “perfection of all good things and contains in itself all that is good” (48). Although all men are naturally oriented toward the good, error leads them astray in search of lesser goods. These include power, riches, fame, and pleasure—each of which is good in itself but does not constitute the whole of happiness. 

Human beings retain an instinctive sense of the true good, but various errors lead them astray to seek lesser or false goods. In fact, all these false goods do not deliver what they promise. Wealth promises self-sufficiency and freedom from want, yet it creates extra worry and gives rise to insatiable greed. 

It is commonly believed that high office makes a person worthy of honor and respect. Yet more often, instead of conferring virtue on the holder, high office exposes wickedness. An office that is considered to confer status and respect in one society might have no meaning to another people. And even within the same society, the status belonging to various offices varies from time to time so that what was once a powerful position might at a later period be considered “lowly” (55).

All this goes to show that public offices possess no inherent dignity or intrinsic moral merit apart from the character of the holder. 

Philosophy continues to speak of the illusory nature of power. Kingly power does not bring happiness, firstly because it is precarious. One can lose power in an instant. Secondly, it brings great worry and anxiety. Thirdly, when a powerful person falls into trouble, friends whom he acquired solely on the basis of his good fortune are liable to desert him. Philosophy cites examples of disloyalty and betrayal from Roman history, including the case of the emperor Nero and his tutor Seneca, whom he betrayed and had put to death: “What sort of power is it, then, that strikes fear into those who possess it, confers no safety on you if you want it, and which cannot be avoided when you want to renounce it?” (57). 

Fame and popularity are also illusory. Fame is deceptive, often exalting the undeserving to high rank. As for popularity, its “acquisition is fortuitous and its retention continuously uncertain” (59). Just as worthless is nobility, which is merely glory borrowed from one's ancestors.

In verse, Philosophy emphasizes the universal fatherhood of God which is more important than human ancestry. 

Bodily pleasure fares no better in Philosophy's analysis, for it is “full of anxiety and its fulfillment full of remorse” (59). When pursued to excess, it often causes illness and pain. If bodily pleasure were the source of happiness, then animals would be supremely happy. As for the pleasure that comes from family life, it too is subject to happenstance, as when a man's children turn against him. Like fortune, pleasures seduce a person, then turn on him. 

Thus, all these lesser goods are “side-tracks and cannot bring us to the destination they promise” (60). They are beset with many evils and risks and do not bring glory or dignity to the person but only moral contamination. “[W]ealth, position, power, fame, [and] pleasure” (62) cannot by themselves make people happy. 

The reason the lesser goods do not constitute happiness is that they are false divisions of something that is by nature one. Human beings in their “perversity” (64) attempt to obtain part of something which has no parts, and thus succeed in getting neither the part nor the whole. It is true happiness that is the source of the lesser goods, which in themselves offer only “shadows of the true good,” or “imperfect blessings” (65).

Philosophy and Boethius will now embark on the search for true happiness, the supreme good. Before doing so, they pray for the blessing of God, “the Father of all things” (66). 

With six closely-argued logical steps, Philosophy leads toward a definition of happiness and the supreme good. First, imperfect things are said to be so by the absence of perfection, so that even in imperfect things, there is some measure of perfection. Second, perfection precedes imperfection; imperfection is a sort of degeneration of or falling away from perfection.

Third, since there is a certain imperfect happiness in lesser goods, this proves that a true and perfect happiness exists. Fourth, it is universally understood that God is good; otherwise, he couldn't be the author of creation, and to posit something higher and more good than God would lead to an infinite regress. Fifth, perfect good is true happiness, and that toward which all human beings strive. Sixth, true happiness is, therefore, found in God.

Philosophy warns against positing that God received his goodness from something outside of him, or that God is something separate from the happiness he possesses. This is because “it is impossible for anything to be by nature better than that from which it is derived” (70). And since God is the origin of all things, he must also be the supreme good. Since it was agreed that supreme good is the same as happiness, God must be the essence of happiness.

Philosophy adds a further point. It is impossible for there to be two separate supreme goods since neither could be perfect if each is lacking something that the other possesses. Therefore, God is identical with perfect happiness.

The chief reason for seeking anything is goodness since that which has no goodness (whether real of apparent) cannot be an object of desire. Thus, goodness is the end goal of everything human beings seek; individual things are sought not so much for their own sake but for the good in them. For example, one rides a horse for the resultant good health. And since it was agreed that happiness is the reason for desiring all things, goodness and happiness are identical. And since God is perfect goodness and happiness, he is “to be found in goodness itself and nowhere else” (73).

In verse, Philosophy invites human beings to escape the captivity of “false desire” and seek the true light. 

Philosophy seeks to show that goodness is synonymous with unity. The various things that people pursue are not the perfect good because they differ from one another and are lacking to each other; thus, any one of them cannot confer full and perfect good. But when these individual lesser goods coalesce into a unity, they become closer to the perfect good: “[I]t is through the acquisition of unity that these things become good” (74).

In animal and plant life there is a drive toward unity and self-preservation. All things seek that which is suitable to them and destroy what is harmful, so all things seek the good. In verse, Philosophy urges man to search for the truth within himself—truth that, as Plato claimed, he once knew but has forgotten. 

Boethius agrees with Plato's doctrine of remembered truth. He recalls that Philosophy previously applied this doctrine to his own situation, when through the influence of bodily suffering and grief he lost his philosophical bearings.

The discussion now turns to God's governing of the world. Boethius explains his reasons for believing that God governs the world: The world, with its many parts and divergent forces, would not coalesce and hold together without a principle of unity.

Philosophy says that Boethius's profession of belief shows that he is very close to returning to health. But Boethius delves further, attempting to relate what he has said to happiness. God controls all things by the helm of goodness, and all things have a “natural inclination towards the good” (80). All things are in harmony and accord with God and could not go against God without going against their very nature. Echoing the Book of Wisdom, Philosophy says that God the supreme good “mightily and sweetly orders all things” (80).

God is omnipotent but cannot do evil; thus, evil is nothing. Boethius sees this as a playful paradox. He recaps what Philosophy has argued thus far in Book 3 about God, the goodness, and happiness. He marvels at how tightly woven and consistent the argument is. Philosophy says that this integrity reflects the teachings of Plato and the nature of God himself.

In verse, Philosophy recalls the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice to illustrate how man must keep his eye fixed on higher truth and not be distracted with lower earthly things.