ABSTRACT
In the preceding chapter it was argued that Schopenhauer’s methodology took him from the epistemological to the metaphysical and on to the ethical-soteriological realm of concern, which he saw as the pinnacle of his philosophy.1 It also sought to demonstrate that Schopenhauer had been significantly influenced by religious thought and this helped him to make such a methodological journey. It was suggested that a circular model was a more accurate representation of his method and its movement between the questions of knowledge, metaphysics and morality.2 As early as 1813, Schopenhauer declares in his notebook:
Thus Schopenhauer seeks to construct an explanatory hypothesis which brings the fundamental questions of morality under the same speculative umbrella as the fundamental concerns of metaphysics. The late Iris Murdoch displayed a similar understanding of this merging of methods in the conclusion to her publication based upon the 1982 Gifford Lectures:
The three chapters which follow examine Schopenhauer’s moral philosophy in detail. Firstly, we will examine Schopenhauer’s critique of Kant’s attempts at formulating the basic principle of morality, in order to assess how accurate his criticisms are. This leads, in Chapter 5, into an analysis of the question concerning the relationship between religion and morality. Chapter 6 evaluates Schopenhauer’s own attempt to discern the basis of morality.
