A Role for Reason in Schopenhauer’s Ethics

Abstract

This chapter takes up the vexed role of reason in Schopenhauer’s thought with respect to his ethics. While explicitly demoting the faculty of reason in ethics from the lofty status it had enjoyed in Kant, this chapter shall argue that Schopenhauer nonetheless can and does retain several important roles for reason in politics and ethics. Highlighting these positive functions of reason will address some of the deficiencies of his discussion of compassion as the foundation of morality, and will help bring out the attractions of his view for contemporary normative ethical theorizing.