Boethius on the Problem of Freedom

1
Boethius on the Problem of Freedom Determinism

• Boethius (480-524 AD)
• Fluent in both Latin and Greek
• Familiar with works of both Plato Aristotle
• Translated Aristotles logical works into Latin
• Thereby transmits Aristotles logical works to
  early medieval western Europe
• Aristotles other works remain unknown in western
  Europe until 1100

2

• Roman Proconsul to Emperor Theodoric
• Christian, opposed to Arian heresy, which denied
  the full divinity of Christ and which was
  espoused by Theodoric
• Accused of treason, imprisoned executed
• While imprisoned composed The Consolation of
  Philosophy, which includes an analysis of the
  problem of freedom and determinism

3
Freedom Determinism

• Is Human Freedom Compatible with Gods
  omniscience?
• If God already knows with complete certainty
  whatever you will ever do, how could your future
  be up to you to determine?
• How could you be genuinely free in planning your
  life and enacting your plans if God already knows
  what you will plan and what you will do?

4
The Preliminary Argument

• God foreknows everything that will happen
• So, God foreknows my future in full detail
• What God foreknows must happen exactly as it does
  happen
• Hence, my future must happen exactly as it does
• If my future must happen exactly as it does, then
  my future is necessary
• Thus, my future is necessary
• If my future is necessary, then I am not free
• Consequently, I am not free!

5
Boethius Rejects the Preliminary Argument

• The preliminary argument conceals a mistake
  pertaining to how the concept of necessity
  appears in the argument
• It is true that if my future is necessary, then I
  am not free
• But the argument fails to prove that my future is
  necessary
• Hence, the argument fails to prove that I am not
  free

6
The Hidden Error in the Preliminary Argument

• Mistaken version of argument
• If God foreknows the future, then the future is
  necessary (This is the mistaken assumption,
  according to Boethius)
• God foreknows the future
• So, the future is necessary
• If the future is necessary, then I am not free
• Hence, I am not free
• Since Boethius rejects 1, he rejects the
  soundness of this version of the argument

7
Boethiuss Corrected Argument

• It is necessary that If God foreknows the
  future, then the future will happen as God knows
  it
• Hence, If God foreknows the future, then the
  future will happen as God knows it
• God foreknows the future
• So, the future will happen as God knows it
• (4) above does not say that the future, mine or
  anyones, is necessary!
• Hence, (4) does not preclude freedom, neither
  mine nor anyones
• Therefore, Gods providence, omniscience and
  foreknowledge, as expressed by (1)-(3), is
  compatible with freedom after all!