Hjälp alla så långt du förmår! : En undersökning av Arthur Schopenhauers etik

Sammanfattning: The subject of this thesis is the ethics of German 19th century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. The study examines Schopenhauer’s ethics and investigates his criticism of the ethics of his older German colleague Immanuel Kant. By arguing that all true morally acceptable and good actions originate from compassion, Schopenhauer distinguishes his view from the deontological ethics held by Kant. The study focuses on Schopenhauer’s view on the basis of morals. Its purpose is to consider an ethical perspective that interconnect moral considerations with human empathy. By comparing the arguments presented by these two philosophers one can get a clearer view of the extent to which Schopenhauer’s criticism of Kant’s ethics is justified. In the analysis, five major parts of Schopenhauer’s criticism are identified and studied one by one. The findings suggest that Schopenhauer’s ethics and the ethics of Kant can be represented as two different ethical paradigms.