Schopenhauer and Non-Cognitivist Moral Realism
Journal of the History of Philosophy 55 (2):293-316 (2017)
Abstract
I argue that Schopenhauer’s views on the foundations of morality challenge the widely-held belief that moral realism requires cognitivism about moral judgments. Schopenhauer’s core metaethical view consists of two claims: that moral worth is attributed to actions based in compassion, and that compassion, in contrast to egoism, arises from deep metaphysical insight into the non-distinctness of beings. These claims, I argue, are sufficient for moral realism, but are compatible with either cognitivism or non-cognitivism. While Schopenhauer’s views of moral judgment are not obviously consistent, I show how various passages suggest a form of non-cognitivism. This non-cognitivism, I claim, is compatible with moral realism.Author's Profile
DOI
10.1353/hph.2017.0030
My notes
Similar books and articles
Truthmaking, Metaethics, and Creeping Minimalism.Jamin Asay - 2013 - Philosophical Studies 163 (1):213-232.
Shaftesbury’s place in the history of moral realism.T. H. Irwin - 2015 - Philosophical Studies 172 (4):865-882.
Cognitivism, non-cognitivism, and skepticism about folk psychology.James Harold - 2012 - Philosophical Psychology 25 (2):165 - 185.
Schopenhauer's Critique of Kant's Foundation for Morals.Mark Lehman Koontz - 1993 - Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania
Wittgenstein and the Shift from Noncognitivism to Cognitivism in Ethics.Patrick Loobuyck - 2005 - Metaphilosophy 36 (3):381-399.
A Defense of Descriptive Moral Content.Jeff Wisdom - 2009 - Southern Journal of Philosophy 47 (3):285-300.
El reino de los derechos y la objetividad de la moral.J. J. Moreso - 2003 - Análisis Filosófico 23 (2):117-150.
Moral Cognitivism vs. Non-Cognitivism.Mark van Roojen - 2013 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2013 (1):1-88.
Immoral Psychology: The Cognitivist's Conundrum.Joseph Stephen Biehl - 2003 - Dissertation, City University of New York
Analytics
Added to PP
2015-11-25
Downloads
845 (#9,493)
6 months
89 (#10,379)
2015-11-25
Downloads
845 (#9,493)
6 months
89 (#10,379)
Historical graph of downloads
Author's Profile
Citations of this work
Schopenhauer's Five-Dimensional Normative Ethics.Colin Marshall & Kayla Mehl - forthcoming - In David Bather Woods & Timothy Stoll (eds.), The Schopenhauerian Mind. Routledge.
Schopenhauer's Titus Argument.Colin Marshall - forthcoming - In Patrick Hassan (ed.), Schopenhauer's Moral Philosophy. Routledge.
References found in this work
Meta‐ethics and the problem of creeping minimalism.James Dreier - 2004 - Philosophical Perspectives 18 (1):23–44.
Moral Anti-Realism.Richard Joyce - 2016 - In Edward N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.