On the basis of morality (The Library of liberal arts) - Softcover

Schopenhauer, Arthur

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0672604450 ISBN 13: 9780672604454

Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill, 1977

Synopsis

Interest in Schopenhauer has increased noticeably in recent years. Published here is one of his key works, which has been out of print for a long time, in the form of Payne's definitive translation. This work is one of the most significant nineteenth century treatises on ethics. It is also Schopenhauer's most extended discussion of traditional themes in ethics and presents a descriptive ethics radically at odds with rationally based, prescriptive ethical theories. Schopenhauer begins this book with a wide-ranging critique of Kant's ethics, one that anticipates the work of contemporary critics of modern moral philosophy like that of G E M Anscombe, Philippa Foot, and Richard Taylor. Schopenhauer argues that compassion is the basis of morality, and in so doing presents a virtue ethics in which passion and desire are viewed as the keys for explaining different moral characters, behaviours, and world views. In the concluding part of his essay, Schopenhauer sketches his metaphysics of morals, using Kant's transcendental idealism as a ground for stressing both the interconnectiveness of being and the affinity of his ethics to Eastern thought.

About this title

About the Author

Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher whose work was a reaction to Hegelian idealism and constitutes one of the pillars of Western pessimist thought. He is the author of such seminal texts as Parerga and Paralipomena, The Wisdom of Life, and The World as Will and Representation.

Review

Schopenhauer's On the Basis of Morality deserves to be a standard text for courses in religious ethics. It doesn’t fit into the prevalent genealogies of virtue ethics and utilitarianism, thus reminding us of other genealogies (pessimism, Nietzsche, Buddhism). It poses fundamental questions about the monotheistic background to the dominant ethical systems of the day as virtually no other work does. I have found that reading it after an intensive study of Kant's ethical and religious writings leads to fantastic discussions, which open the floor for great insights into the relation of religion and ethics.--Mark Larrimore, Princeton University

Edition details

• Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill
• Publication date: 1977
• ISBN 10: 0672604450
• ISBN 13: 9780672604454
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 226