On the Freedom of the Will. On the Basis of Morality

Arthur Schopenhauer, the German irrationalist philosopher, made a significant contribution to understanding the foundations of human morality. In his works submitted to the Norwegian Royal Academy of Sciences, he investigates two key ethical problems: freedom of the will and the moral basis. Schopenhauer argues that human nature is neither perfect nor fixed, which makes a person both free and unfree at the same time. In his view, a person’s essence is determined by the will, and true freedom is available only to a few. Interestingly, according to Schopenhauer, morality itself is responsible for people’s voluntary submission.