Jay RughaniPHIL 195Professor Thomas CavanaughAnalytical Paper 5/24/2014The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius, considered one of the most famous books in the world. As the title suggests, the book is about how the lady's philosophy consoles Boethius before his execution and although some might argue about whether it is consoling or not, it certainly answers some of the troubling questions that every man has thought about at least once in his life. life. The issue I will talk about concerns evil. The topic of evil in the world is one of the most interesting and important passages in the book. The thought that evil has no substance and does not exist in this world may not necessarily be an orthodox idea. It is easier to prove logically than the existence of God or the devil. The Lady's philosophy explains this by saying that everyone seeks happiness, but evil people seek happiness in the wrong way and will never achieve their goal. Evil people will never achieve the supreme joy and satisfaction of perfect happiness, and therefore they are not included in everything that really exists. Since they can never achieve the only value that matters, which is happiness, any earthly power they have is actually no power at all. So evil people don't exist. Boethius agrees with this, but argues that evil people harm the virtuous and are not punished at all. Philosophy responds by saying that the punishment for the wicked is their non-existence. They are punished by the actions they take on their own. Boethius failed to take the human element into consideration here, if human beings who are ultimately imperfect and cannot understand the real nature of good or evil, take on the responsibility of punishing the wicked among themselves, this surely it's g... .middle of paper......one place can cause huge changes somewhere else. For example, if global warming causes snow to melt and this raises sea levels. Although this example had a direct relationship between cause and effect, in reality the butterfly effect is much more complicated. When I look at the last argument I feel that it is something invented by Boethius, after all he wrote the book to console himself. It says that everything that happens to a person, whether good or bad, is always good. Because bad events make a person more virtuous. These same beliefs are used in some sects and terrorist groups, they say that through death a person can achieve true happiness by going to heaven. The reality is that we are responsible for our individual lives and our actions define ourselves and our future. So, if something bad happens to a person, he or she should take action to make things right.