Book

The Basis of Morality

by Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860)

28 chapters, about 67,000 words. The text is in the public domain in the United States and comes from Project Gutenberg.

Chapters

1. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 300 words
2. TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION. 2,700 words
3. THE QUESTION 400 words
4. THE PROBLEM. 1,800 words
5. GENERAL RETROSPECT. 1,700 words
6. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 1,000 words
7. ON THE IMPERATIVE FORM OF THE KANTIAN ETHICS. 2,400 words
8. CHAPTER III. 900 words
9. ON THE BASIS OF THE KANTIAN ETHICS. 9,100 words
10. NOTE. 1,300 words
11. ON THE LEADING PRINCIPLE OF THE KANTIAN ETHICS. 2,300 words
12. CHAPTER VI. 3,400 words
13. KANT'S DOCTRINE OF CONSCIENCE. 1,900 words
14. CHAPTER VIII. 1,600 words
15. CHAPTER IX. 1,300 words
16. CONDITIONS OF THE PROBLEM. 400 words
17. SCEPTICAL VIEW. 3,400 words
18. ANTIMORAL[1] INCENTIVES. 2,800 words
19. CRITERION OF ACTIONS OF MORAL WORTH. 700 words
20. CHAPTER V. 2,800 words
21. THE VIRTUE OF JUSTICE. 5,300 words
22. THE VIRTUE OF LOVING-KINDNESS. 1,900 words
23. THE PROOF NOW GIVEN CONFIRMED BY EXPERIENCE. 7,200 words
24. ON THE ETHICAL DIFFERENCE OF CHARACTER. 3,700 words
25. HOW THIS APPENDIX MUST BE UNDERSTOOD. 1,600 words
26. THE METAPHYSICAL GROUNDWORK. 4,300 words
27. REGIAE DANICAE SCIENTIARUM SOCIETATIS. 200 words
28. JUDGMENT OF THE DANISH ROYAL SOCIETY OF SCIENCES. 300 words

Ideas discussed in this book

• Ahimsa
• Compassion
• Conscience
• Croesus
• Duty
• Egoism
• Ethos
• Noumenon
• Obligation
• Practical reason

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