Consolation of Boethius. An Analytical inquiry into his intellectual Processes and Goals

Using methods from the study of the history of consciousness, this study analyzes symbols such as "philosophy," "participation," and the various images Boethius employs to describe his intellectual process and goal. Its triple argument -- from its internal symbols, from sympathetic readers, and from opponents -- confirms the arguments for the meaning of the Consolation as the attempt of a Christian thinker to avail himself of philosophical thinking as a divine gift in which his own mind participated. It offers to medieval scholarship patterns of analysis which illuminate the patterns of medieval consciousness, and the shift to early modern ways of seeing and thinking. Crosses fields (history, philosophy, theology, literature) and periods (late antique to early modern), and relies on interpretive methodology.