Boethus of Sidon (Stoic)

For the Peripatetic philosopher from Sidon, (c. 75 – c. 10 BC), see Boethus of Sidon

Boethus (Greek: Βοηθός; fl. 2nd century BC) was a Stoic philosopher from Sidon, and a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon.

He is said to have denied, contrary to the standard Stoic view, that the cosmos is an animate being,[1] and he suggested that it was not the whole world which was divine, but only the ether or sphere of the fixed stars.[2] He argued that the world was eternal,[3] in particular, he rejected the Stoic conflagration (ekpyrosis) because god or the World-Soul would be inactive during it, whereas it exercises Divine Providence in the actual world.

Among his works was one On Nature,[2] and one On Fate.[4] He wrote a commentary on the works of Aratus in at least four volumes.[5]

Notes

  1. ↑ Diogenes Laërtius, vii. 143
  2. 1 2 Diogenes Laërtius, vii. 148
  3. ↑ Philo, De aeternitate mundi 76–77
  4. ↑ Diogenes Laërtius, vii. 149
  5. ↑ Geminus, xvii 48
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