Ethics, metaethics and justice in Arthur Schopenhauer

Abstract

This paper aims to show the relevance and importance of Arthur Schopenhauer's ethical-philosophical ideas, unjustly overlooked or even forgotten by ethical studies. To achieve this, we will demostrate how the philosopher born in Danzig anticipates, in his work "On The Basis of Morality", two lines of inquiry that are of utmost importance in the contemporary landscape of ethics. On one hand, the type of analysis characteristic of metaethics, and on other hand, the rehabilitation of virtue ethics. Later, we will also focus on his reflections on justice, framed within his distinctive theory of moral virtues. Building upon these two lines developed by the German philosopher, we will attempt a brief characterization of Schopenhauer's ethics to ascertain if it can be plainly classified as a virtue ethics and where it might position itself within the major metaethical frameworks.