Title: On the basis of morality The Library of liberal ar

Schopenhauer, Arthur

ISBN 10: 0672604450 / ISBN 13: 9780672604454

Published by Bobbs-Merrill, 1977

About this Item

On the Basis of Morality is Schopenhauerâ s influential critique of Kantian ethics and his own bold attempt to ground morality in compassion (Mitleid) rather than duty or rational principle. Written for a prize competition in 1839, the essay argues that genuine moral action arises from an intuitive recognition of the shared inner being of all creatures, not from abstract rules or self-interest. Schopenhauer dismantles competing ethical theories with characteristic sharpness, while offering a profound account of empathy, suffering, and the moral significance of the will. A key text in 19th-century philosophy, essential for readers of Schopenhauer, ethics, and the history of moral thought. Photograph available on request.

Seller Inventory # mon0001644115

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Title: On the basis of morality The Library of liberal ar
• Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill
• Publication Date: 1977
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0672604450
• ISBN 13: 9780672604454
• Binding: paperback
• Condition: Good

About this title

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 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.