On the Basis of Morality
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On the Basis of Morality (German: Über die Grundlage der Moral) is one of Arthur Schopenhauer's major works in ethics, in which he argues that morality stems from compassion. Schopenhauer begins with a criticism of Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, which Schopenhauer considered to be clearest explanation of Kantian ethics.
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[edit] Publication history
Arthur Schopenhauer wrote On the Basis of Morality as a response to a question posed by the Royal Danish Society of Scientific Studies in 1837 for an essay contest. The question was, "Are the source and foundation of morals to be looked for in an idea of morality lying immediately in consciousness (or conscience) and in the analysis of other fundamental moral concepts springing from that idea, or are they to be looked for in a different ground of knowledge?". Schopenhauer submitted the only entry to the contest in July 1839, but failed to win. On January 17, 1840, the society published a response to the essay, in which they refused to present him with the prize, claiming that he had misunderstood the question.
[edit] Structure
On the Basis of Morality is divided into four sections. The first section is an introduction in which Schopenhauer provides his account of the question posed by the Royal Danish Society and his interpretation of the history of western ethics. In the second section, Schopenhauer embarks on a criticism of Kantian ethics, which he viewed as the orthodoxy in ethics. The third section of the work is Schopenhauer's positive construction of his own ethical theory. The final section of the work provides a brief description of the metaphysical foundations of ethics.
[edit] Kant's Merit
Schopenhauer declared that the true basis of morality is compassion or sympathy. The morality of an action can be judged in accordance with Kant's distinction of treating a person as an end not as a mere means. By drawing the distinction between egoism and unselfishness, Kant correctly described the criterion of morality. For Schopenhauer, this was the only merit of Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals.
[edit] References
- Kant, Immanuel. Groundwork for the Metaphysic of Morals. Translated by Jonathan F. Bennett at www.earlymoderntexts.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-12.
- Schopenhauer, Arthur; translation, E.F.J. Payne ; introduction, David E. Cartwright (1995). On the basis of morality. Providence : Berghahn Books. ISBN 1-57181-053-6.
- Schopenhauer, Arthur; translated with an introduction and notes by A.B. Bullock (2005). The basis of morality. Mineola, N.Y: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-44653-0.
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