Empedocles, Boethius, and Chaucer: Love Binds All

Description: Explores how the character Theseus in KnT does and does not embody principles of political philosophy found in Boethius's "Consolation of Philosophy." Combining "idealism and political exigency," Theseus fulfills the "composite model of an ideal" late-medieval ruler, but not that of a Boethian philosopher. His closing speech aligns with the "Empedoclean model" or worldview, in which strife and love vie in a mechanistic way.