A 10-week study of Boethius’ On the Consolation of Philosophy
24 February – 12 May, Mondays, 7-8.30pm GMT (no sessions 17 March and 21 April).
Course leader Dr Valentin Gerlier
Text Boethius, On the Consolation of Philosophy, trans. David Slavitt. Harvard University Press, 2008
At once a masterpiece of Latin literature and a philosophical classic, On the Consolation of Philosophy (523 CE) is a seminal text of the Western spiritual imagination and has exerted a profound influence from the early Middle Ages up to the present day. Unjustly imprisoned and awaiting a fated trial, Boethius encounters a mysterious feminine figure in his cell, ‘Lady Philosophy’. She proceeds to guide him along a meditative philosophical ascent to the Good itself. In the course of profound philosophical dialogues between the two, numerous themes are explored: human nature, the nature of virtue, the nature of free will, justice, chance and providence all figure along this deepening exploration. As Boethius’s understanding deepens, each step along the journey throws a clearer light on the preceding ones, with Lady Philosophy guiding him towards a manner of wisdom whose reach coincides with the embrace of the cosmos itself.
VALENTIN GERLIER is Lecturer at Schumacher Wild, Associate Lecturer at the University of Plymouth and Research Associate at the Institut Catholique de Toulouse, France. He is author of Shakespeare and the Grace of Words (Routledge, 2022) and regularly teaches and lectures at the Temenos Academy.
Course Cost: £150 or £100 for Temenos Academy Members/ full-time students.
To book: temenosacademy@myfastmail.com or 07513 883 335. Zoom link will be sent to participants prior to the course starting.
[Image Credit – Lady Philosophy consoles Boethius. Detail of an illustration for the Consolation of Philosophy by the Coëtivy Master (Henri de Vulcop?), c. 1465. Image courtesy of the Getty Museum]
