On the Basis of Morality
Schopenhauer investigates what motivates a genuinely moral action. Criticizing the imperative and rational foundations of Kantian ethics, he proposes compassion as immediate access to another being’s suffering.
Understanding the text
Submitted unsuccessfully to the Danish prize competition in 1840, it appeared with the freedom essay; institutional polemic accompanies its argument.
Key points
- 01
Motivation
Behavior conforming to a rule may serve selfish interests; moral value requires asking what actually moves the agent.
- 02
Compassion
Another’s suffering becomes a direct motive without prior calculations of reward or reciprocity.
- 03
Justice and beneficence
Refraining from harm and actively helping are different developments of overcoming exclusive concern for oneself.
Explore the ideas in depth
Can compassion ground morality?
Read On the Basis of Morality through motives, visible actions and attention to other beings.
One action, different motives
Two people may help identically, one seeking admiration and the other directly concerned by suffering. Compare consequences and motives without assuming observers can always distinguish them. Schopenhauer places the problem of moral value within that difference.
Crossing the boundary of self-interest
Compassion makes another being’s pain directly relevant to action without imagining future reward. Ask how concern can extend to strangers and animals, and what limitations emotion encounters when circumstances are distant or difficult to represent.
Testing the foundation
Compassionate motivation may explain why to act, but does it determine what to do? Poorly informed assistance can worsen a problem. Compare the moral motive with knowledge of circumstances, respect for persons and the practical effectiveness of intervention.
Questions to carry into your reading
- Can an action without compassionate feeling still possess moral worth?
- How can concern avoid favoring only those who resemble us?
Compassion initiates moral attention; applying it also requires understanding circumstances and examining consequences.
How to read it
Compare outwardly identical selfish and compassionate actions, then examine how difficult their motives may be to know.
Editions & sources
Summaries and key points are original editorial interpretations. They accompany reading the work and do not replace an edition of the text. Editorial method ↗