BOETHIUS OF SWEDEN (DACIA)

Aristotelian philosopher; b. probably Denmark, first half of the 13th century; place and date of death unknown. The theory that he was of Swedish origin and a canon of the Diocese of Linköping has been seriously questioned by S. S. Jensen ["On the National Origin of the Philosopher Boetius de Dacia," Classica et Mediaevalia 24 (1963) 232–41]. As a secular cleric he taught philosophy in the faculty of arts at Paris, where he was associated with siger of brabant in the Averroist movement condemned at Paris in 1270 and 1277. Later he probably became a Dominican of the province of Dacia. Boethius staunchly defended the freedom of philosophy from religion, teaching the eternity of the world and of the human species and denying creation and the Resurrection. However, he did not abandon the Christian faith but tried unsuccessfully to reconcile it with his philosophy. He claimed that faith teaches the truth, though reason sometimes contradicts it. Boethius wrote many commentaries on Aristotle, some of which are lost. His only published works are De summo bono, De sompniis, and De aeternitate mundi.

See Also: averroism, latin

Bibliography: m. grabmann, Neuaufgefundene Werke des Siger von Brabant und Boetius von Dacien (Munich 1924); "Die Opuscula De Summo Bono sive De Vita Philosophi und De Sompniis des Boetius von Dacien," Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littéraire du moyen-âge 6 (1931) 287–317; Mittelalterliches Geistesleben, 3 v. (Munich 1925–56) 200–24. g. sajÓ, "Boetius de Dacia und seine philosophische Bedeutung," Die Metaphysik im Mittelalter, ed. p. wilpert (Miscellanea Mediaevalia, 2; Berlin 1963) 454–63; ed., De Aeternitate Mundi (Berlin 1964). É. h. gilson, History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages (New York 1955) 399–402, 725.

[a. maurer]