Book I

• The sadness B experiences from losing all he has is a "desease", according to LP, which so many deceived minds suffer from.

  [2(p)] LP: He is suffering from drowsiness, that disease which attacks so many minds which have been deceived. He has forgotten himself for a moment and will quickly remember, as soon as he recognises me. That he may do so, let me brush away from his eyes the darkening cloud of thoughts of matters perishable.

• Why does evil exist? This seems to be B's main question.

  [4(p)] B: Evil desires are, it may be, due to our natural failings, but that the conceptions of any wicked mind should prevail against innocence while God watches over us, seems to me unnatural. Wherefore not without cause has one of your own followers asked, " If God is, whence come evil things? If He is not, whence come good? "

• God exists, according to both B and LP.

  [6(p)] B: Never would I think it could be so, nor believe that such sure motions could be made at random or by chance. I know that God, the founder of the universe, does overlook His work; nor ever may that day come which shall drive me to abandon this belief as untrue.

• One can have philosophical insight by "remembering" (Plato).

  [6(p)] LP: I know the cause, or the chief cause, of your sickness. You have forgotten what you are.

  B has "forgotten" three out of four important issues. [6(p)] LP:

  • You are overwhelmed by this forgetfulness of yourself: hence you have been thus sorrowing that you are exiled and robbed of all your possessions.
  • You do not know the aim and end of all things; hence you think that if men are worthless and wicked, they are powerful and fortunate.
  • You have forgotten by what methods the universe is guided; hence you think that the chances of good and bad fortune are tossed about with no ruling hand.

  One thing he does remember. [6(p)] LP:

  • But let us thank the Giver of all health, that your nature has not altogether left you. We have yet the chief spark for your health's fire, for you have a true knowledge of the hand that guides the universe: you do believe that its government is not subject to random chance, but to divine reason.

Book II

• Experiencing good fortune is addictive

  [1(p)] LP: If I have thoroughly learned the causes and the manner of your sickness, your former good fortune has so affected you that you are being consumed by longing for it.

• B should have known that Fortuna is stable in her unstableness.

  [1(p)] LP: For though she is the cause of this great trouble for you, she ought to have been the subject of calmness and peace. For no man can ever make himself sure that she will never desert him, and thus has she deserted you. Do you reckon such happiness to be prized, which is sure to pass away? Is good fortune dear to you, which is with you for a time and is not sure to stay, and which is sure to bring you unhappiness when it is gone?

• It's an illusion to think that one can really own the goods that Fortuna gives.

  [2(p)] LP (imagining what Fortuna could say): I surrounded you with glory and all the abundance that was mine to give. Now it pleases me to withdraw my hand: be thankful, as though you had lived upon my loans. You have no just cause of complaint, as though you had really lost what was once your own.
  Boldly will I say that if these, of whose loss you complain, were ever yours, you would never have lost them at all.

• Good fortune is never complete, but also never completely missing.

  LP shows B that in the past he has enjoyed a huge good fortune. And that at present things that are really worthwhile are still his. She mentions his wife, children and his eminent father in law.

  [4(p)] LP: We have made some progress, if you are not now weary entirely of your present lot.
  Whose happiness is so firmly established that he has no quarrel from any side with his estate of life? For the condition of our welfare is a matter fraught with care: either its completeness never appears, or it never remains.

  • One man's wealth is abundant, but his birth and breeding put him to shame.
  • Another is famous for his noble birth, but would rather be unknown because he is hampered by his narrow means.
  • A third is blessed with wealth and breeding, but bewails his life because he has no wife.
  • Another is happy in his marriage, but has no children, and saves his wealth only for an heir that is no son of his.
  • Another is blessed with children, but weeps tears of sorrow for the misdeeds of son or daughter.
  So none is readily at peace with the lot his fortune sends him.

  [4(p)] LP: Consider further, that the feelings of the most fortunate men are the most easily affected, wherefore, unless all their desires are supplied, such men, being unused to all adversity, are cast down by every little care: so small are the troubles which can rob them of complete happiness.

Book III

• *All* humans strive ultimately for happiness.

  [2(p)] LP: The trouble of the many and various aims of mortal men bring them much care, and herein they go forward by different paths but strive to reach one end, which is happiness.

• LP defines the highest good, when attained one will not need anything else.

  [2(p)] LP: And that good is that, to which if any man attain, he can desire nothing further.
  It is that highest of all good things, and it embraces in itself all good things: if any good is lacking, it cannot be the highest good, since then there is left outside it something which can be desired.
  Wherefore happiness is a state which is made perfect by the union of all good things.

• If man seeks happiness, how come they don't reach it? LP mentions 5 common pathways, which will not lead to compleet happiness though.

  [2(p)] LP: This end all men seek to reach, as I said, though by different paths. For there is implanted by nature in the minds of men a desire for the true good; but error leads them astray towards false goods by wrong paths.

  • Some men believe that the highest good is to lack nothing, and so they are at pains to possess abundant riches.
  • Others consider the true good to be that which is most worthy of admiration, and so they strive to attain to places of honour, and to be held by their fellow-citizens in honour thereby.
  • Some determine that the highest good lies in the highest power; and so they either desire to reign themselves, or try to cleave to those who do reign.
  • Others think that renown is the greatest good, and they therefore hasten to make a famous name by the arts of peace or of war.
  • But more than all measure the fruit of good by pleasure and enjoyment, and these think that the happiest man is abandoned to pleasure.

  Further, there are those who confuse the aims and the causes of these good things: as those who desire riches for the sake of power or of pleasure, or those who seek power for the sake of money or celebrity.

korte verhandeling over streven naar waar geluk.
([2(p)]) p 110 midden, lange verhandeling over welke gedaanten het niet ware geluk aanneemt.
Rijkdom (([3(p)]) vanaf bovenaan p 114)
respect en aanzien ([4(p)]) p115
macht ([5(p)]) p117
roem ([6(p)]) p119
genot ([7(p)]) p120
Eerste deel ([8(p)]) p 121, ellende door vijf bovenstaande



• LP shows how neither of these common pathways can lead to ultimate happiness. [3(p)] riches, [4(p)] honour, [5(p)] power, [6(p)] fame, [7(p)] pleasure.

  [8(p)] LP: There is then no doubt that these roads to happiness are no roads, and they cannot lead any man to any end whither they profess to take him. I would shew you shortly with what great evils they are bound up.

  • Would you heap up money? You will need to tear it from its owner.
  • Would you seem brilliant by the glory of great honours? You must kneel before their dispenser, and in your desire to surpass other men in honour, you must debase yourself by setting aside all pride.
  • Do you long for power? You will be subject to the wiles of all over whom you have power, you will be at the mercy of many dangers.
  • You seek fame? You will be drawn to and fro among rough paths, and lose all freedom from care.
  • Would you spend a life of pleasure? Who would not despise and cast off such servitude to so vile and brittle a thing as your body?
  How petty are all the aims of those who put before themselves the pleasures of the body, how uncertain is the possession of such?

  [9(p)] B: I do see that wealth cannot satisfy, that power comes not to kingdoms, nor veneration to high offices; that true renown cannot accompany ambition, nor true enjoyment wait upon the pleasures of the body.

([9(p)]) p 123 beschrijving ware geluk, dat dat alle vijf bovenstaande verenigt. volg de logica.



• The highest good is not one of these five roads, but somehow a union of these.

  [9(p)] LP: Human error takes that which is simple and by nature impossible to divide, tries to divide it, and turns its truth and perfection into falsity and imperfection.

  • LP: Tell me, do you think that anything which lacks nothing, can be without power?
    B: Of course not.
    LP: You are right; for if anything has any weakness in any part, it must lack the help of something else.
    B: Then perfect satisfaction and power have the same nature?
    LP: Yes, it seems so.
  • LP: And do you think such a thing contemptible, or the opposite, worthy of all veneration?
    B: There can be no doubt that it is worthy.
    LP: Then let us add veneration to that satisfaction and power, and so consider these three as one.
  • LP: Do you then think that this whole is dull and of no reputation, or renowned with all glory? For consider it thus: we have granted that it lacks nothing, that it has all power and is worthy of all veneration; it must not therefore lack the glory which it cannot supply for itself, and thereby seem to be in any direction contemptible.
    B: No. I must allow that it has glory too.
    LP: Therefore we must rank this glory equally with the other three.
  • Then that which lacks nothing from outside itself, which is all-powerful by its own might, which has renown and veneration, must surely be allowed to be most happy too?
    B: I cannot imagine from what quarter unhappiness would creep into such a thing, wherefore we must grant that it is full of happiness if the other qualities remain existent.
    LP: Then it follows further, that though perfect satisfaction, power, glory, veneration, and happiness differ in name, they cannot differ at all in essence?
    B: They cannot
  
  
  p 125, kan dat ware geluk dan wel echt bestaan? B denkt van niet. p 126 aanroep God.
  
  

• B thinks that such an ultimate complete thing cannot exist in reality.
  LP prays, she asks God to help out here.

[10(p)] p 127 in iedere klasse van dingen, volmaakte en niet volmaakte
God = oorsprong = beste = hoogste goed p 128
hoogste goed ontleent God niet aan iets buiten hem, dus beginsel van alles is dus hoogste goed p 128 - 129
hoogste goed = hoogste gelukzaligheid (zie hiervoor(?)), dus God = hoogste gelukzaligheid p 129
Door de volmaaktheid van het hoogste goed kunnen hoogste goederen niet van elkaar verschillen p 129 midden
mensen worden gelukzalig door het krijgen van gelukzaligheid. gelukzaligheid = goddelijk, dus mensen die goddelijkheid verkrijgen worden goden.p 129 - 130

gelukzaligheid (hoogste goed), is er een verbindend iets? nee, eenheid p 131
men streeft alleen na dat wat goed, of dat waarvan men denkt dat het goed is. het goed is dus uiteindlijke doel van verlangen. en god en goed zijn niet van elkaar verschillend. p 131

[11(p)]Wat is het goed zelf?
de niet ware goeden zijn niet het hoogste goed omdat ze geen eenheid zijn. p 132
eenheid = goedheid natuurlijk streven naar behoud, tegen uiteenvallen p 133 -134
daarom een natuurlijk verlangen, door god ingeprogrammeerd in alle wezens, tot behoud p 134 onderaan
wil tot voortbestaan = wil tot eenheid = wil tot goedheid B: of er bestaat niet een iets (voor eenheid) of wel, maar dat is dan ook het hoogste goed. antwoord op de vraag wat is het doel van die alles: het goede p 135

[12(p)]Hoe de besturing van de wereld in z'n werk gaat.
B gelooft *dat* de wereld bestuurd wordt door god. p 136
God is niet aangewezen op hulp van buitenaf. p 137
god is het hoogste god, god bestuurt de wereld, de mensen willen het hoogste goed, onderwerpen zich dus vrijwillig aan god's heerschappij.
niets wat wat zijn natuurlijke aard volgt gaat tegen god in
p 138 er bestaat dus niets dat zich tegen dit hoogste goed te zou kunnen of willen stellen.
god heeft macht over alles. god is hoogste goed.
kan hij kwaad doen? nee.
dus het kwaad is niets, als hij die alles kan, dat niet kan.
plato en parmenides p 139

Book IV

• alkf

[1(p)] p 145 terwijl er een wezenlijk goed bestuurder is, het kwaad toch kan bestaan?
(weg naar huis p146)
[2(p)]handelen: willen en kunnen. als iemand iets wil, maar het niet krijgt dan kan ie het niet. goede zowel als slechte mensen streven naar gelukzaligheid = goedheid. Slechte zijn dus niet bij machte. p 147 -148
middelen: natuurlijke middelen versus begeerten p 149
slechte mensen: hun kracht laat hun in de steek (ze zijn immers niet capabel)
1 hebben ze geen weet van het goede? p 150 wat is grotere krachteloosheid dan verblinding
2 zinnelijke begeerten? gebrek aan zelfbeheersing is zwakte
3 bewuste keuze? niet alleen geen kracht, ze bestaan eigenlijk niet meer.
slechte mensen zijn toch tot allerlei in staat? p 150
macht tot kwaad is geen macht. plato

[3(p)] goede mensen worden tot goden, slechte verworden tot beesten p 153 onderaan

Book V

• alkf

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