the consolation of philosophy sparknotes

Therefore, people are capable of doing evil in a world ruled by a perfect God, who “can only do good,” simply because people themselves are not perfect and often commit errors.

So while good people succeed, the evil fail in their “search for the good” because they make “mistake and error.” But it’s not an evil part that makes them fail-the problem is the good parts they do not have. Weakness (evil) is simply a lack of strength (good). Therefore, the good are strong and the evil are weak, and evil's power comes 'from weakness rather than strength.” Because evil is weakness, it is possible for people to be evil even though God is not evil. So the good act naturally and powerfully, and the evil act unnaturally because they are powerless to do what is natural. She says this because evil is contrary to the natural way of things-everyone naturally wants happiness, and the good are powerful enough to achieve it, while the evil are so powerless that they cannot. Philosophy first argues that evil is weakness. This means that God has not created evil and can still be absolutely good. To explain how there can be evil in the world, Philosophy first determines that evil is weakness, and therefore evil is nothing. In effect, Philosophy posits that Boethius is wrong about whom God rewards and punishes: while Boethius thinks that evil people in Rome are being rewarded and he himself is being punished, in reality it is the other way around, as it should be in a world controlled by a benevolent, all-powerful creator. Philosophy solves this problem by arguing, first, that evil is not a real thing that God has positively brought into existence, but is rather a lack of goodness, and, secondly, that God gives everyone the consequences they deserve. How can an all-powerful, all-knowing, absolutely benevolent God allow evil to exist? In addition to potentially challenging Philosophy’s arguments about the nature of God, this question is personally significant for Boethius, who struggles to make sense of why wicked men now have power in Rome and are punishing the virtuous (including himself).

The consolation of philosophy sparknotes