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What if morality begins not with a command, but with the sight of another creature’s suffering?
In The Basis of Morality, Arthur Schopenhauer asks what truly makes an action good. He takes aim at Immanuel Kant’s account of duty, challenging the claim that a binding moral law can guide every rational being. For Schopenhauer, the question is not just what rules demand, but what actually moves us to act.
His answer is compassion. From this response to another’s suffering, he builds an account of justice and loving-kindness. The argument moves from a sharp attack on abstract commands to a deeper question: why can we care about another being at all? Expect strong convictions and scorn for rival thinkers, rather than calm, even-handed debate.
What you’ll discover
- A challenge to duty Follow Schopenhauer’s attack on Kant’s claim that moral duty binds every rational being.
- What moves us Explore his search for morality’s foundation in what people actually feel and do.
- Compassion at the center Consider why he believes another creature’s suffering can move us when commands cannot.
- Justice and loving-kindness Trace how Schopenhauer draws these two cardinal virtues from a single source: compassion.
- The question beneath compassion Follow the argument into metaphysics as he asks why compassion is possible at all.
Who will love it
For readers who want to know why people should be good and enjoy a sharp argument with a strong opinion, and anyone interested in compassion, human motives and the foundations of morality.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A prize question and a defiant answer
- Kant's command has no one behind it
- Only three drives move a human being
- Compassion alone gives an act moral worth
- Justice and loving-kindness grow from compassion
- The hidden unity and how the essay has fared
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El fundamento de la moral
by Arthur Schopenhauer · 1841
Schopenhauer confronts Kant's ethics and asks whether compassion alone gives our actions moral worth.
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In short
The Basis of Morality is a prize essay by the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. He wrote it in 1839 for the Royal Danish Society of Sciences, which had asked a hard question: where does morality come from, and what is its true foundation?
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A prize question and a defiant answer
In 1837 the Royal Danish Society of Sciences set a question for an essay contest. It asked whether the source and foundation of morality lie in an idea of morality found in conscience, or in some other ground of knowledge. Schopenhauer had already won a similar prize in Norway for his essay on the freedom of the will. He was sure he could win again.
He sent in his essay in 1839, and it was the only entry. Even so, the Society refused to give the prize. Its judges gave two reasons. They said he had not answered the question as set, because he had neglected the link between metaphysics and ethics that they had asked for. They also said he had spoken of famous philosophers of the day in a way that was not respectful.
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What is The Basis of Morality about?
It is an essay on where moral worth comes from. Schopenhauer rejects Kant's ethics of duty and argues that only compassion, the direct concern for another's suffering, can move a person to truly good action.
Why did the Danish Society refuse Schopenhauer the prize?
Although his was the only entry, the Society said he had not properly answered the question set and had spoken without respect of leading philosophers. Schopenhauer rejected both charges in his preface.
What does Schopenhauer say about Kant's ethics?
He says Kant's categorical imperative borrows the language of command from religion, has no real authority behind it, and secretly appeals to self-interest. He also objects to Kant's view that animals are mere things.
The author
Arthur Schopenhauer
1788–1860 · German philosopher
Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher born in Danzig, now Gdańsk, in 1788. He lived in Frankfurt from 1833 until his death in 1860. He published The World as Will and Representation in 1818, On the Basis of Morality in 1841, and Parerga and Paralipomena in 1851.
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