The Two Fundamental Problems of Ethics

This translation is the first English edition to reunite Schopenhauer's two major essays on ethics in one volume.

Arthur Schopenhauer (Author), Christopher Janaway (Edited and translated by)

9780521871402, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 11 June 2009

334 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.1 cm, 0.67 kg

Arthur Schopenhauer's The Two Fundamental Problems of Ethics (1841) consists of two groundbreaking essays: 'On the Freedom of the Will' and 'On the Basis of Morals'. The essays make original contributions to ethics and display Schopenhauer's erudition, prose-style and flair for philosophical controversy, as well as philosophical views that contrast sharply with the positions of both Kant and Nietzsche. Written accessibly, they do not presuppose the intricate metaphysics which Schopenhauer constructs elsewhere. This is the first English translation of these works to re-unite both essays in one volume. It offers a new translation by Christopher Janaway, together with an introduction, editorial notes on Schopenhauer's vocabulary and the different editions of his essays, a chronology of his life, a bibliography, and a glossary of names.

General editor's preface
Introduction
Notes on the text and translation
Chronology
The Two Fundamental Problems of Ethics
Preface to the first edition
Preface to the second edition
Prize Essay On the Freedom of the Will
Prize Essay On the Basis of Morals
Variants in different editions
Glossary of names
Index.

Subject Areas: History of Western philosophy [HPC], Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 [DSBF]