A Study Of Schopenhauer’s Moral Foundation

The question of "morality" has always been an important proposition for the harmonious and stable development of society,and is a core area of ethics research in China and the West.The different answers of the various schools of thought to the foundations of morality constitute the main content of the study of ethics.The study of the foundations of morality is the main direction of Arthur Schopenhauer’s ethical research,and its core scope revolves around the sympathetic(Mitleid)emotions already present in human nature and the recognised human virtues of ’justice’ and’benevolence’."Its theory of emotion as the basis of morality breaks the shackles of traditional rational morality,affirms the"goodness" inherent in human beings,and proclaims the value of human beings.It is an important reference for the construction of a human-centred society and the construction of a universal ethics.In order to further investigate how emotions have a fundamental position in Schopenhauer’s moral philosophy and their important theoretical value,this article relies on a combination of historical and theoretical approaches to examine sympathetic emotions in the context of the overall development of moral philosophy from Schopenhauer’s original works.It also focuses on the process of Schopenhauer’s argument for sympathy as the basis of morality,and explores the theoretical and practical significance of human sympathy for moral development.Schopenhauer’s theory of the foundations of morality reveals that altruism is the motivation behind moral behaviour,and argues from both the empirical and a priori levels that compassion is the ultimate basis for the motivation to act altruistically,and that his ontology of the will has a homogeneity that unifies both the empirical and a priori levels in the ultimate will.Schopenhauer’s system of ethics is thus complete.Schopenhauer’s thinking at the level of human nature further refines the important role of sympathy in morality,providing an important theoretical contribution to our search for the foundations of morality,as well as providing important insights for the development of emotion as a modern moral construction and the construction of a global moral consensus.