Quotation
Last reviewed:
“Compassion is the basis of morality.”
Arthur Schopenhauer · Philosophical pessimism · Modern · 1840
What does it mean?
Moral worth, in the prize essay, does not come from the empty form of Kant's duty and does not come from self-interest dressed as virtue. It comes from compassion: being moved by another's suffering as if the wall between self and other had failed. A rival reading says compassion is too partial to be the basis of morality, because we are moved by the near sufferer and numb to the far one, so a rule would be fairer. He thinks a rule without that movement is a shell.
Did Arthur Schopenhauer really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. This is his thesis, standardly stated in English. The essay argues that compassion — being moved by another's suffering as if it were one's own — is the only genuine moral incentive. The short sentence is a banner over a longer argument.
Where it comes from
On the Basis of Morality (1840)
Approximate date: 1840.
How to use it
In a Bristol A&E, a nurse stays late for one patient and calls it duty. Schopenhauer asks whether anyone's suffering actually moved them, or whether the act was fear, vanity, or the rota. He counts only the first as the moral incentive. The question can be asked without adopting his metaphysics of the will.
A mindset reading
Compassion here is not pity that looks down. It is a crack in egoism. That crack is unsettling on purpose. He does not think you can get his ethics while keeping the usual boundary of the self intact.
Understand the philosophy
On the Basis of Morality is a direct answer to Kant. The categorical imperative, he says, is magnificent and empty. Whether compassion can carry the whole of morality, including justice to strangers, is the objection the essay still has to face.
- ethics
- love
- virtue
FAQ
What does it mean?
Moral worth, in the prize essay, does not come from the empty form of Kant's duty and does not come from self-interest dressed as virtue. It comes from compassion: being moved by another's suffering as if the wall between self and other had failed. A rival reading says compassion is too partial to be the basis of morality, because we are moved by the near sufferer and numb to the far one, so a rule would be fairer. He thinks a rule without that movement is a shell.
Did Arthur Schopenhauer really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. This is his thesis, standardly stated in English. The essay argues that compassion — being moved by another's suffering as if it were one's own — is the only genuine moral incentive. The short sentence is a banner over a longer argument.
Which work is it in?
On the Basis of Morality (1840) Approximate date: 1840.