Boethius bks 1-3: Banish Joy, Banish Hope, Banish Fear -- Sophia Colbert
"And you, to discern truth/ with a clear light,/ to seize the straight path-/ banish joy,/ banish hope,/ banish fear" (pg 30).
As a Christian, I found these last words from book one to be slightly disturbing, especially since Lady Philosophy was the one who said them. Christianity is about hope in fear, light in darkness, joy in defeat. To abandon fear in this mindset makes sense, but not so much the other two. The idea of removing all emotion is a Stoicism. The Stoic philosophers found that any emotion caused imbalance to a person's soul. It was better to get rid of all emotion to see clearly with reason. The Vulcan values from Star Trek are based off of Stoic ideals. They are all about logic, just like the Stoics are all about reason. At least they aren't all about that bass.
I did not expect Lady Philosophy to recommend abandoning hope to find truth. I always understood philosophy to be about the quest for truth, usually in the face of dark and uncertain times. Perhaps this is just the optimist side of me, but when I think of philosophy, I see a quest for greater things beyond ourselves, or maybe within ourselves. Doesn't that require just a little bit of hope? When you look at the context of the situation within the book, you find it hard to believe that Lady Philosophy really means what she says. After all, she and Boethius are on a quest to find the true Goodness, which is God himself. I can't see how one could go on a quest for God without just a little bit of joy and hope and fear. Perhaps I am hung up on this for no reason. It probably means something else entirely different. But until someone explains to me why it is necessary to banish joy, hope, and fear to see truth, I have a bone with Lady Philosophy.
P.S. I commented on Eliza and Breanna's posts.
As a Christian, I found these last words from book one to be slightly disturbing, especially since Lady Philosophy was the one who said them. Christianity is about hope in fear, light in darkness, joy in defeat. To abandon fear in this mindset makes sense, but not so much the other two. The idea of removing all emotion is a Stoicism. The Stoic philosophers found that any emotion caused imbalance to a person's soul. It was better to get rid of all emotion to see clearly with reason. The Vulcan values from Star Trek are based off of Stoic ideals. They are all about logic, just like the Stoics are all about reason. At least they aren't all about that bass.
I did not expect Lady Philosophy to recommend abandoning hope to find truth. I always understood philosophy to be about the quest for truth, usually in the face of dark and uncertain times. Perhaps this is just the optimist side of me, but when I think of philosophy, I see a quest for greater things beyond ourselves, or maybe within ourselves. Doesn't that require just a little bit of hope? When you look at the context of the situation within the book, you find it hard to believe that Lady Philosophy really means what she says. After all, she and Boethius are on a quest to find the true Goodness, which is God himself. I can't see how one could go on a quest for God without just a little bit of joy and hope and fear. Perhaps I am hung up on this for no reason. It probably means something else entirely different. But until someone explains to me why it is necessary to banish joy, hope, and fear to see truth, I have a bone with Lady Philosophy.
P.S. I commented on Eliza and Breanna's posts.
Personally, I don't find anything very "logical" about ignoring emotion. That's just a value judgement! Even if you're more likely to think correctly when you're not overcome with emotion, preferring correct thinking to feeling is certainly subjective.
ReplyDelete