
Morality from Compassion
Ingmar Persson(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 2. September 2021
Book
Hardback
154 pages
978-0-19-284553-5 (ISBN)
Description
According to Arthur Schopenhauer, compassion is the basis of morality. He sees concern for justice as a negative form of compassion, directed at not harming anyone, as opposed to the more far-reaching, positive form of benefiting. He thinks a higher degree of compassion involves realizing that the spatio-temporal separation of individuals is illusory and that in reality they are all identical. Such compassion is impartial and all-encompassing. Compassion is suited to be the centre of morality because its object are negative feelings, and only these are real. Contrary to these Schopenhauerian claims, it is here argued that compassion must be supplemented with attitudes like sympathy and benevolence because positive feelings exist alongside negative feelings; that a concern for justice, though morally essential, is independent of these attitudes which are based on empathy; that these attitudes involve not identifying oneself with others, but taking personal identity as insignificant in empathically imagining how others feel. Schopenhauer is however right that, though these attitudes are spontaneously partial, this can be corrected. His morality is also interesting in raising the question rarely discussed in philosophical ethics of how moral virtue relates to ascetic self-renunciation. Both of these ideals are highly demanding, but the book ends by arguing that this is no objection to their validity.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 213 mm
Width: 142 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
272 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-284553-5 (9780192845535)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Ingmar Persson
Morality from Compassion
E-Book
09/2021
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€37.99
Available for download

Ingmar Persson
Morality from Compassion
E-Book
09/2021
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€37.99
Available for download
Person
Ingmar Persson was Professor of Practical Philosophy at Lund University from 2001 to 2004 and then Professor of Practical Philosophy at University of Gothenburg until his retirement in 2018. Since 2010 he has been Distinguished Research Fellow at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics.
Content
1: Schopenhauer on Compassion as the Basis of Morality
2: Morality and the Distinction between Oneself and Others
3: The Partiality and moral Importance of Empathy
4: Biases in Favour of the Negative
5: Demandingness as Objection to Norms
2: Morality and the Distinction between Oneself and Others
3: The Partiality and moral Importance of Empathy
4: Biases in Favour of the Negative
5: Demandingness as Objection to Norms