Boethius on How Things are Related

Abstract

Looking at Boethius’s various discussions about how things are related serves two different and valuable purposes. First, it provides evidence against the view, unfortunately still widespread, of Boethius as a conduit, a transmitter of ancient learning to the medieval world, whose own positions, borrowed from others, are of little interest. Second, especially because of the importance of Boethius for thinkers in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, these discussions point to big questions about how relatedness was understood in the Middle Ages and ultimately about how we should understand it.