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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A paper which considers Boethius' philosophy of happiness, and the need for the virtuous individual to understand predestination, free will and moral choice in order to achieve true happiness despite the privations of the material world. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: JL5_JLboeth.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
aeternitatis and sub specie temporalis, which assert that although everything is ordained, humans can also make choices. Although this would seem to be a contradiction in terms, it is a
philosophical stance which is accepted as valid, and is expressed in compatibilism. Compatibilism states that although there is a deterministic chain of events which forms the background to ones choice,
that chain of events might have been constructed of slightly different elements and therefore ones decision would have been influenced by different factors. Obviously, if
everything is pre-ordained, then human free will would not exist; this would mean that morality would have no point and no value, since one cannot make a moral choice when
everything is already decided, and there is no choice to make. As noted by the Theosophy Library (2001), in the commentary on Boethius, "one cannot fully grasp why good men
suffer whilst evil men seem to rule without understanding . . divine foreknowledge and human free will" (TLO, 2001, PG). Clearly, then, a good person can indeed be unhappy, in
the sense that they act in a moral and ethical manner, do "good deeds" and so on, but are not rewarded for such actions. Despite their moral virtue, they suffer
reversals of fortune, illness, accidents and other events which contribute to their unhappiness. At the same time, the "evil men who seem to rule" are the
ones who appear to benefit most from life, and are therefore apparently being rewarded for their immoral deeds. According to Boethius, the only way in which such a person can
avoid unhappiness is by understanding these issues of "divine foreknowledge and human free will" which combine to create the reality in which the individual is living. We see a somewhat
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