BOETHIUS, AND THE VALUE OF NOBLE BIRTH

Introduction

“For this is sure, and this is fixed by everlasting law”, Boethius writes “that naught which is brought to birth shall constant her abide”. In his Consolation of Philosophy, Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius explains how fortune is just and favors all humans equally, because beneficence and adversity is spread arbitrarily to “mankind”. However, some people appear to be more fortunate than others. To be sure, Boethius was born into a medieval social class that possessed more privileges and advantages over non-nobles, because he was adopted by a “man of highest rank” and, for this reason, made famous (among the Roman elites) for the merits of his “forefathers”.

In order to explain the nature of nobility, Boethius describes his own biographical upbringing and argues that we should never act rightly for the sake of fame and office. I will analyze the idea of nobility in relation to fame and the idea of dignity in relation to positions of high office, then I will argue that nobility and dignity presuppose moral and aesthetic categories because Boethius ascribes a set of fundamental values to human dignity.

On the dignity and nobility of being human

Boethius stresses that what people want is different from what seems to be the best means to attain happiness; fame and office are regarded as the means for happiness by relating it to dignity and nobility. However, neither fame nor office grants the benefits people assume. For one thing, if it is the case that fame “creates merit”, then nobility is glorified and personal merits are ignored. Consequently, nobility means to be praised solely on the merits of one’s forefathers (as opposed to being actually noble) and yet people seek happiness in office and fame because t...

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...on works in unison as part of the “highborn race”. Boethius account of humanity emphasizes the dignity of human beings by ascribing a fundamental set of human values to each person.

Conclusion

The nature of nobility and dignity is contained in man’s role, given that we are bonded by common love: being a person means the dignity in relation to other men, for Boethius; mankind is the whole and love binds each person in unison. In the moral sense, we stand under the Kingdome of heaven (where the “wise judge of justice” dwells): man acts honorably for the sake of rewarding the good and mankind is the object of respect in moral life. In the aesthetic sense, if we pursue false goods, then we deviate from not understanding the beauty within use. The nobility and dignity of the human race determines human beings as human and distinguishes human beings from animals.