Table of Contents:
Translator's Preface to the Second Edition
Translator's Preface to the First Edition
Translator's Introduction
The Question
Part I. Introduction
Chapter I. The problem
Chapter II. General Retrospect
Part II. Critique of Kant's Basis of Ethics
Chapter I. Preliminary Remarks
Chapter II. On the Imperative Form of the Kantian Ethics
Chapter III. On the Assumption of Duties Towards Ourselves in Particular
Chapter IV. On the Basis of the Kantian Ethics
Note
Chapter V. On the Leading Principle of the Kantian Ethics
Chapter VI. On the Derived Forms of the Leading Principle of the Kantian Ethics
Chapter VII. Kant's Doctrine of Conscience
Chapter VIII. Kant's Doctrine of the Intelligible and Empirical Character. Theory of Freedom
Note
Chapter IX. Fichte's Ethics as a Magnifying Glass for the Errors of the Kantian
Part III. The Founding of Ethics
Chapter I. Conditions of the problem
Chapter II. Sceptical View
Chapter III. Antimoral Incentives
Chapter IV. Criterion of Actions of Moral Worth
Chapter V. Statement and Proof of the Only True Moral Incentive
Chapter VI. The Virtue of Justice
Chapter VII. The Virtue of Loving-Kindness
Chapter VIII. The Proof Now Given Confirmed by Experience
Chapter IX. On the Ethical Difference of Character
Part IV. On the Metaphysical Explanation of the Primal Ethical Phaenomenon
Chapter I. How This Appendix Must Be Understood
Chapter II. The Metaphysical Groundwork
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Publisher Marketing:
Persuasive and humane, this classic of philosophy represents one of the nineteenth century's most significant treatises on ethics. The Basis of Morality offers Schopenhauer's fullest examination of traditional ethical themes, and it articulates a descriptive form of ethics that contradicts the rationally based prescriptive theories.
Starting with his polemic against Kant's ethics of duty, Schopenhauer anticipates the latter-day critics of moral philosophy. Arguing that compassion forms the basis of morality, he outlines a perspective on ethics in which passion and desire correspond to different moral characters, behaviors, and worldviews. In conclusion, Schopenhauer defines his metaphysics of morals, employing Kant's transcendental idealism to illustrate both the interconnectiveness of being and the affinity of his ethics to Eastern thought.