Still on the divine foreknowledge and causality in Boethius of Rome

• Grant number: 12/23917-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: April 15, 2013
• End date: July 14, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - History of Philosophy
• Principal Investigator: Juvenal Savian Filho
• Grantee: Juvenal Savian Filho
• Host Investigator: Anca Vasiliu
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris 4), France

Abstract

This project aims to investigate how, in the thought of Boethius of Rome, the notions of causality and divine foreknowledge are put in correlation. Its specificity consists in conducting this investigation based on the exegesis recently proposed by John Marenbon, an expert in the work of Boethius and professor at Trinity College, Cambridge. Indeed, Marenbon refuses the traditional interpretation according to which Boethius, conceiving divine eternity as timelessness, solves the difficulties involved in the "problem of the future contingents." In the words of the English teacher, Boethius understand eternity as a divine attribute: God exists, somehow, in all instants of the time. This allows to professor Marenbon to not only reinterpret the text of the Roman philosopher, but also propose a revision of the history of the problem. The project will be developed in a direct dialogue with his work. This will be done by (i) a re-lecture of boethian texts directly or indirectly correlated to the subject; (ii) a sistematic study of the texts of John Marenbon; (iii) a dialogue with researchers at the Centre Léon Robin, specialists about ancient and medieval thought. In school year 2012-2013, these teachers reserve their monthly seminar to the theme "principles and causes". It is not just a study of the thought of Boethius, with occasional reference to the interpretation of Marenbon, but a specific investigation of the texts of Boethius based on the philosophical and "audacious" exegesis of Marenbon, in order to know the meaning, scope and relevance of his exegesis. Finally, this project aims to give opportunity to write an article to be published in a Brazilian academic review. (AU)