Oh how happy I would be

If freshmen read more philosophy

But I am saddened now to hear

They will not read Boethius this year

As Saint Anselm College’s required Humanities program evolves, freshmen this year lost the pleasure of studying everyone’s favorite book in everyone’s favorite class. Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy will no longer be part of every Conversatio section.

This is a great tragedy, as The Consolation of Philosophy is perhaps the perfect book for the Conversatio program: it ponders the value and practical application of the liberal arts (so students can be convinced, or not, whether this class has any value). Knowledge of this earlier text can also provide some important context for its influence in what students encounter in other classes (or so they can know more about the names of game shows than their friends at home). Most importantly, it is a fairly obscure medieval philosophy text most people outside medievalist and philosophy circles have never heard of, so having everyone at this school read this same book allows for jokes, memes, and references in casual conversations to early medieval philosophy.

Boethius’s masterpiece reflects on many elements of the liberal arts: poetry, prose, music, philosophy, theology, and even a little history and astronomy sprinkled in. These disciplines complement and compete with each other, like when Lady Philosophy tells Boethius to stop writing poems, and Boethius keeps writing poems. There is much to say about the role these arts play in lives, in particular the life of someone waiting to be killed by King Theodoric the Amal.

I certainly hope most freshmen are not awaiting execution, but in some ways students at Saint Anselm College are in a similar situation to Boethius: there is not much to do except study the liberal arts. Sure, there is the other art of excessive drinking, but obviously no underage freshmen do that. Even when there are other things to do, freshmen are often too shy to go to them. Though the life of a Saint Anselm freshman and Boethius in prison have their differences, both are left to largely turn to the study of the liberal arts, whether they want to or not. The comprehensive liberal arts Boethius uses is what Conversatio is largely about, where students relate to his struggle to find happiness.

Outside of Conversatio, The Consolation of Philosophy has been read, studied, and referenced by great writers and thinkers including Dante, Chaucer, and Thomas Jefferson. By exposing all students to Boethius, the school lets them join the ranks of these legendary writers in also being pretentious and able to reference medieval philosophy. Unless they read it elsewhere, many students in the class of 2025 will be denied this priceless skill.

The greatest tragedy, though, is that no longer is Saint Anselm College a place where one can reference The Consolation of Philosophy and know that everyone will understand. One of my favorite parts about Conversatio was that all freshmen read the same books and could talk and joke about them with each other. Common books kept year after year allow this academic fun to be shared between different classes too, and help to build a common community around obscure medieval philosophy. This shared academic background sparks conversation and creates community, something particularly valuable to first-semester freshmen. While the school community continues to share its love for Hildegard, the Bhagavad Gita, and Josef Pieper, Boethius’s individual reflection, building of community, and pondering of the divine, will be a painful absence to the college community. But perhaps this pain is in vain, as all these things we receive can just as easily be taken away; as is the nature of Fortune’s Wheel.