Number DOI: http://doi.org/10.33209/2519-4348-2707-9627-2025-13-178

Volynskyi Blahovisnyk. № 13. 2025. P. 213-234.

Summary

The article examines important aspects of the knowledge of God, presented in the studies of S. Boethius. The article examines important aspects of the knowledge of God presented in the studies of S. Boethius, namely the complex and controversial question of the attributes of God. This question was not only discussed in medieval Christian thought, but was also the subject of attention of many famous philosophers (F. Schelling, G. Hegel, etc.). Based on the analysis of his theological treatises and the work «Consolation of Philosophy», several significant features of the coverage here of the question of how the attributes of God can be presented correctly are emphasized. It is noted that S. Boethius recognizes the right to truth in such matters only for the Church, but at the same time, to clarify complex issues, he turns to the means of philosophical thinking, in particular, such as the use of Aristotle’s categories, certain logical procedures and rules of rational argumentation. The thinker pays special attention to such attributes of God as Simplicity and Unity, and the problem of the relationship between the divine definition of the world and divine omniscience he make subject to special analysis. As a result, S. Boethius actually provides all the main components of the well-known ontological proof of the existence of God, although he does not reduce them to the clear formulation developed by Anselm of Canterbury. These developments of S. Boethius, in the opinion of the author of the article, have not lost their relevance in our time.

The article uses the methods of textual analysis, categorical analysis, comparative studies and hermeneutics. The article is based on the analysis of numerous sources devoted to Boethius, both Ukrainian and, mostly, foreign ones. The author believes that the proposed reading version of Boethius’ treatise “Consolation of Philosophy” is quite organically consistent with his other theological treatises.

Key words: attributes of God, categories, divine definition, divine omniscience.

References:

1. Boetsii Severyn. Rozrada vid filosofii / Per. z lat. A. Sodomora; Peredm. V. Kondzolka. K.: Vyd-vo Solomii Pavlychko «Osnovy», 2002. 146 s.  [in Ukrainian].
2. Boetsii S. Teolohichni traktaty. Pereklad z anhl., zvirenyi z lat tekstom, peredmova i prymitky V.L. Petrushenka. Lviv, LPBA, 2024 [in Ukrainian].
3. Kulyk M. (2020). Teoriia piznannia Severyna Boetsiia: holovni kontseptsii ta sensy v konteksti serednovichnoi teolohii. Visnyk KhNU imeni V.N. Karazina. Seriia «Filosofiia. Filosofski perypetii». Vypusk 63 [in Ukrainian].
4. Petrushenko V, Filosofiia yak nastavnytsia na shliakh do Teolohii u traktati S. Boetsiia «Rozrada vid Filosofii». Volynskyi Blahovisnyk №12 (2024) [in Ukrainian].
5. Petrushenko V. (2023). Filosofiia yak putivnyk do teolohii (zghidno «Rozrady vid Filosofii» S. Boetsiia) // Khrystyianska sakralna tradytsiia: vira, dukhovnist, mystetstvo: zbirnyk materialiv KhVI mizhnarodnoi konferentsii. Lviv: LPBA PTsU [in Ukrainian].
6. Popov V.Iu. (2014). Trynitarna identolohiia traktatu Severyna Boetsiia «Liber de Trinitate». Filosofski obrii. № 31  [in Ukrainian].
7. Shamsha I.V. (2008). Rozuminnia buttia u filosofii Boetsiia. Multiversum. №73. [in Ukrainian].
8. Вoethius interpretationen (1968) Von Gregor Maurach. Rӧmische Philosophie. Maurach, Gregor. Verlag: Darmstadt Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1976 [in Germany].
9. Boethius. The Theological Tractates. With аn English translation вy H. F. Stewart, D.D. Fellow оf Trinity College, Cambridge аnd E. K. Rand, Ph.D. Professor оp Latin іn Harvard University. The Consolation оf Philosophy. With the English translation оf “I. T.” (1609). Revised вy H. F. Stewart Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. MCMLXVIII  [in Latin; in English].
10. Donato, Antonio (2013). Self-Examination and Consolation in Boethius` «Consolation of Philosophy» // The Classical World. Vol. 106, No. 3 (SPRIN)  [in English].
11. Fugikawa Jason (2007; 2008). The Self-Recovery of Boethius: Human Perfection in «The Consolation of Philosophy». Carmina Philosophiae. Vol. 17, Special Issue: Part II: Selected Proceedings of the Franciscan University of Steubenville Graduate Program in Philosophy «Second Annual Conference on Christian Philosophy Boethius» Steubenville, Ohio, April 13-14  [in English]
12. Heidegger M. (1953). Einführung in die Metaphysik, MAX NIEMEYER VERLAG I T’OBINGEN, Tübingen.  URL https://www.bard.edu/library/arendt/pdfs/Heidegger-EinfuhrungMetaphysik.pdf  [in Germany].
13. Lewis C.S.  (2003). The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature, 1964.  [in English].
14. Marenbon, John (2003).Boethius Great medieval thinkers · Oxford scholarship online. Author, John Marenbon. Publisher, Oxford University Press  [in English]. 
15. McMahon, William E. (1980). «The Liber sex principiorum, a Twelfth-Century Treatise in Descriptive Metaphysics». In E. F. K. Koerner (ed.). Progress in Linguistic Historiography: Papers from the International Conference on the History of the Language Sciences, Ottawa, 28–31 August 1978. Johns Benjamins Publishing Company  [in English].
16. Papahagi, Adrian (2010). Hic magis philosophice quam catholice loquitur: The reception of Boethian Platonism in the Carolingian Age.  Boethiana mediaevalia (2010) [in English].
17. Philippus Cancellarius (1985). Summa de bono / N. Wicki, ed. Bernae. Vol. 1. URL: https://arthist.elte.hu/o_07081_muv311b_ho_PhilCanc_Summa_DeImaginibus.pdf  [in Latin].
18. Reis E. (1984). The fall of Boethius and the fiction of The Consolatione of Philosophy // CJ  [in English].
19. Shanzer, Danuta. The Death of Boethius and the «Consolation of Philosophy» // Hermes, 112. Bd., H. 3 (3rd Qtr.,) [in English].
20. St. Anselm. Рroslogium; Мonologium; Іn behalf of the fool by Gaunilon and reply by Anselm. Translation by Sidney Norton Deane, B. A. The Catholic Primer: www.catholicprimer.org. [in Latin; in English].