Schopenhauer criticized Kant's moral theory on the grounds that it was non-empirical and inadequate, because it attempted to establish morality on the basis of reason and duty. Contrary to Kant, Schopenhauer argued that genuine morality is irrational, based on compassion, and a human product, hence that it could be studied empirically. Schopenhauer established the ‘science of morality’ which occupied the attention of a host of turn of the century precursors of the social sciences, especially Durkheim. Durkheim's version of the science of moral facts is compared and contrasted with Schopenhauer's critique of Kant, and it is demonstrated that Durkheim tends (o follow Schopenhauer's lead. Problems with Durkheim's and Schopenhauer's critiques of Kantian ethics are also discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlpertH., (1938), Emile Durkheim and His Sociology, New York: Columbia University Press.
2.
BachelardG., ([1934] 1984), The New Scientific Spirit, Boston: Beacon.
3.
BachelardG., ([1940] 1968), The Philosophy of No, New York: Orion Press.
4.
BaileyR., (1958), Sociology Faces Pessimism: A Study of European Sociological Thought Amidst a Fading Optimism, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
5.
BaillotA., (1927), Influence de la philosophie de Schopenhauer en France (1860–1900), Paris: J. Vrin.
6.
BergsonH., ([1932] 1954), The Two Sources of Morality and Religion, translated by AudraR. A.BreretonC., Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday.
7.
BougléC., (1938), The French Conception of ‘Culture Générale’ and Its Influences Upon Instruction, New York: Columbia University Press.
8.
CartwrightD., (1984), ‘Kant, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche on the morality of pity’, Journal of the History of Ideas, 45: 83–98.
9.
DavyG., (1927), Emile Durkheim: Choix de Textes avec Etude du système sociologique, Paris: Rasmussen.
10.
DurkheimE., ([1887] 1976a), ‘La Science positive de la morale en Allemagne’, in KaradyV. Textes, Vol. 1, Paris, Les Editions de Minuit, pp. 267–343.
11.
DurkheimE., ([1887] 1976b), ‘La Philosophie dans les universities allemandes’, in KaradyV., Textes, Vol. 3. Paris: Les Editions de Minuit, pp. 437–86.
12.
DurkheimE., ([1893] 1933), The Division of Labor in Society, translated by SimpsonG., New York: Free Press.
13.
DurkheimE., ([1897] 1951), Suicide: A Study in Sociology, translated by SpauldingJ. A.SimpsonG., New York: Free Press.
14.
DurkheimE., ((1906] 1974), ‘The determination of the moral fact’, in DurkheimE., Sociology and Philosophy, New York, Free Press, pp. 35–79.
15.
DurkheimE., ([1907] 1980), ‘Review of E. Westermarck's The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas’, in NandanY., Emile Durkheim: Contributions to L'Année Sociologique, New York, Free Press, pp. 150–9.
16.
DurkheimE., ([1912] 1965), The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, translated by SwainJ., New York: Free Press.
17.
DurkheimE., ([1920] 1978), ‘Introduction to Morality’, in TraugottM., Emile Durkheim on Institutional Analysis, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, pp. 191–202.
18.
DurkheimE., (1924), Sociologie et philosophie, Paris: Alcan.
19.
DurkheimE., ([1924] 1974), Sociology and Philosophy, translated by PocockD.F., New York: Free Press.
20.
DurkheimE., ([1925] 1961), Moral Education, translated by WilsonE. K.SchnurerH., Glencoe: Free Press.
21.
DurkheimE., ([1928] 1958), Socialism and Saint-Simon, translated by SattlerC. Yellow Springs, OH: Antioch Press.
22.
DurkheimE., (1950), Leçons de sociologie: Physique des moeurs et du droit, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
23.
DurkheimE., (1969), Journal sociologique, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France
24.
DurkheimE.MaussM., ([1903] 1975), Primitive Classification, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
25.
EllenbergerH., (1970), The Discovery of the Unconscious, New York: Basic Books.
26.
FauconnetP., (1920), La Responsabilité, Paris: Alcan.
27.
FoxM., (1980), Schopenhauer: His Philosophical Achievement, Totowa, N.J.: Barnes and Noble.
28.
GouldnerA., (1960), ‘The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement’, American Sociological Review, 25: 161–78.
29.
GuyauJ., ([1885] 1907), Esquisse d'une morale sans obligation ni sanction, Paris: Alcan.
30.
HabermasJ., (1970), Toward a Rational Society, translated by ShapiroJ. Boston: Beacon.
31.
HabermasJ., (1984), The Theory of Communicative Action, Vol. 1, translated by McCarthyT., Boston: Beacon.
32.
HallR.T., (1987), Emile Durkheim: Ethics and the Sociology of Morals, New York: Greenwood Press.
JamesW., ([1896] 1931), The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy, New York: Longmans.
35.
JanikA.ToulminS., (1973), Wittgenstein's Vienna, New York: Simon & Schuster.
36.
KantI., ([1788] 1956), Critique of Practical Reason, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.
37.
KohlbergL., (1958), The Development of Modes of Moral Thinking and Choice in the Years Ten to Sixteen, doctoral dissertation, University of Chicago.
38.
KohlbergL., (1970), ‘Education for justice: A modern statement of the Platonic view’, in SizerN., Five Lectures on Moral Education, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, pp. 57–84.
39.
KohlbergL., (1984), Essays in Moral Development: Vol. 2, The Psychology of Moral Development, San Francisco: Harper & Row.
40.
LalandeA., (1899), La Dissolution opposée a l'Evolution, Paris: Alcan.
41.
LalandeA., (1960), ‘Allocution’, in Centenaire de la naissance d'Emile Durkheim, Paris, Annales de l'Université de Paris, 20–3.
42.
Lévy-BruhlL., (1899), The History of Modem Philosophy in France, Chicago: Open Court.
43.
Lévy-BruhlL., (1905), Ethics and Moral Science, translated by LeeE., London: Archibald Constable & Co.
44.
LogueW., (1983), From Philosophy to Sociology: The Evolution of French Liberalism, 1870–1914, DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press.
45.
LukécsG., (1980), The Destruction of Reason, Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press.
46.
LukesS., (1972), Emile Durkheim: His Life and Work, New York: Harper and Row.
47.
MageeB., (1983), The Philosophy of Schopenhauer, New York: Oxford University Press.
48.
MannT., ([1939] 1955), ‘Introduction’, in DurantW.MannT., The Works of Schopenhauer, New York, Frederick Ungar Publishers, pp. iii–xxiiii.
MestrovicS., (1988a), Emile Durkheim and the Reformation of Sociology, Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield.
51.
MestrovicS., (1988b), ‘The social world as will and idea: Schopenhauer's influence upon Durkheim's thought’, The Sociological Review, 36: 674–705.
52.
MestrovicS., (1989), ‘Rethinking the will and idea of sociology in the light of Schopenhauer's philosophy’, The British Journal of Sociology, 40: 271–93.
53.
MestrovicS.CookJ., (1988), ‘On childism as prejudice’, Psychiatric Forum, 14: 34–41.
54.
MillJ.S., (1968), Auguste Comte and Positivism, Ann Arbor, ML.University of Michigan Press.
55.
NietzscheF., ([1901] 1968), The Will to Power, New York: Random House.
56.
ParsonsT., (1937), The Structure of Social Action, Glencoe: Free Press.
57.
PiagetJ., (1932), The Moral Judgment of the Child, New York: Free Press.
58.
PickeringW.S.F., (1979), Durkheim: Essays on Morals and Education, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
59.
PickeringW.S.F., (1984), Durkheim's Sociology of Religion: Themes and Theories, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
60.
SchopenhauerA., ([1818] 1977), The World as Will and Idea, New York: AMS Press.
61.
SchopenhauerA., ([1841] 1965), On the Basis of Morality, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.
62.
SimmelG., ([1907] 1986), Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
63.
TaylorR., (1965), ‘Introduction’, in SchopenhauerA., On the Basis of Morality, Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill, pp. 39–48.
64.
WundtW., (1906), Ethics: An Investigation of the Facts and Laws of the Moral Life, New York: Macmillan.
