Within this plan of Providence, does free will really exist? Yes, because each reasonable creature is able to discern between desirable and undesirable things, and thus to pursue the former and avoid the latter; in other words, they are able to will or not to will. However, humans who are embodied, and especially those who pursue vice, have lessened free will; their use of their will has enslaved them to vice.

Written in the 6th-century from a prison cell as the author awaits execution for a crime he did not commit, The Consolation of Philosophy is a dialogue between Boethius and a mysterious woman—Lady Philosophy—who helps him rediscover wisdom and virtue.

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