Prize Question
Original German
Preisschrift über die Grundlage der Moral,
nicht gekrönt von der Königlich Dänischen Societät der Wissenschaften, zu Kopenhagen, am 30. Januar 1840.
Motto:
Moral predigen ist leicht, Moral begründen schwer.(Schopenhauer, Ueber den Willen in der Natur, S. 128.)
Die von der Königl. Societät aufgestellte Frage, nebst vorangeschickter Einleitung, lautet:
Quum primitiva moralitatis idea, sive de summa lege morali principalis notio, sua quadam propria eaque minime logica necessitate, tum in ea disciplina appareat, cui propositum est cognitionem τοῦ ἠθικοῦ explicare, tum in vita, partim in conscientiae judicio de nostris actionibus, partim in censura morali de actionibus aliorum hominum; quumque complures, quae ab illa idea inseparabiles sunt, eamque tanquam originem respiciunt, notiones principales ad τὸ ἠθικὸν spectantes, velut officii notio et imputationis, eadem necessitate eodemque ambitu vim suam exserant, — et tamen inter eos cursus viasque, quas nostrae aetatis meditatio philosophica persequitur, magni momenti esse videatur, hoc argumentum ad disputationem revocare, — cupit Societas, ut accurate haec quaestio perpendatur et pertractetur:
Philosophiae moralis fons et fundamentum utrum in idea moralitatis, quae immediate conscientia contineatur, et ceteris notionibus fundamentalibus, quae ex illa prodeant, explicandis quaerenda sunt, an in alio cognoscendi principio?
Verdeutscht:
Da die ursprüngliche Idee der Moralität, oder der Hauptbegriff vom obersten Moralgesetze, mit einer ihr eigenthümlichen, jedoch keineswegs logischen Nothwendigkeit, sowohl in derjenigen Wissenschaft hervortritt, deren Zweck ist, die Erkenntniß des Sittlichen darzulegen, als auch im wirklichen Leben, woselbst sie sich theils im Urtheil des Gewissens über unsere eigenen Handlungen, theils in unserer moralischen Beurtheilung der Handlungen Anderer zeigt; und da ferner mehrere, von jener Idee unzertrennliche und aus ihr entsprungene moralische Hauptbegriffe, wie z. B. der Begriff der Pflicht und der der Zurechnung, mit gleicher Nothwendigkeit und in gleichem Umfang sich geltend machen; — und da es doch bei den Wegen, welche die philosophische Forschung unserer Zeit verfolgt, sehr wichtig scheint, diesen Gegenstand wieder zur Untersuchung zu bringen; — so wünscht die Societät, daß folgende Frage sorgfältig überlegt und abgehandelt werde:
Ist die Quelle und Grundlage der Moral zu suchen in einer unmittelbar im Bewußtseyn (oder Gewissen) liegenden Idee der Moralität und in der Analyse der übrigen, aus dieser entspringenden, moralischen Grundbegriffe, oder aber in einem andern Erkenntnißgrunde?
Musean translation
Machine-assisted Musean translation made directly from the complete 1860 German edition, including its quotations, author’s notes, prize question and judgment. Source-language reviewed.
Prize Essay on the Basis of Morality,
not awarded the prize by the Royal Danish Society of Sciences in Copenhagen, on January 30, 1840.
Motto:
Preaching morality is easy; grounding it, hard.(Schopenhauer, On the Will in Nature, S. 128.)
The question posed by the Royal Society, with its prefatory introduction, reads:
Since the original idea of morality, or the fundamental conception of the supreme moral law, manifests itself with a necessity peculiar to it and by no means logical, both in the discipline whose purpose is to set out knowledge of the ethical and in life, partly in conscience's judgment of our own actions, partly in our moral assessment of the actions of other people; and since several fundamental ethical concepts inseparable from that idea and looking to it as their origin, such as the concepts of duty and accountability, assert their force with the same necessity and over the same range—and yet, amid the courses and paths pursued by the philosophical thought of our age, it seems a matter of great importance to reopen this subject for discussion—the Society wishes the following question to be carefully considered and examined:
Are the source and foundation of moral philosophy to be sought in an exposition of the idea of morality immediately contained in consciousness, and of the other fundamental concepts that arise from it, or in some other principle of knowledge?
In German:
Since the original idea of morality, or the principal conception of the supreme moral law, emerges with a necessity peculiar to it, yet by no means logical, both in the science whose purpose is to set out knowledge of the moral and in actual life, where it appears partly in conscience's judgment of our own actions, partly in our moral assessment of the actions of others; and since, further, several fundamental moral concepts inseparable from that idea and arising from it, such as the concepts of duty and accountability, assert themselves with the same necessity and over the same range—and since, given the paths pursued by the philosophical inquiry of our age, it nevertheless seems very important to bring this subject under examination once again—the Society wishes the following question to be carefully considered and discussed:
Are the source and foundation of morality to be sought in an idea of morality immediately present in consciousness (or conscience), and in an analysis of the other fundamental moral concepts arising from it, or in some other ground of knowledge?
Plain English translation
Independent, machine-assisted Plain English translation made directly from the complete 1860 German edition and its embedded passages. Source-language reviewed.
Prize Essay on the Basis of Morality,
not awarded a prize by the Royal Danish Society of Sciences in Copenhagen on January 30, 1840.
Motto:
Preaching morality is easy; giving it a foundation, hard.(Schopenhauer, On the Will in Nature, S. 128.)
The question set by the Royal Society, with its introduction, reads:
The original idea of morality, or the basic concept of the highest moral law, appears with a necessity of its own that is not at all logical. It appears both in the discipline whose purpose is to explain our knowledge of what is moral and in life: partly in conscience's judgment of our own actions, partly in our moral judgment of other people's actions. Several basic moral concepts, such as duty and accountability, are inseparable from that idea and look to it as their source. They too assert their force with the same necessity and over the same range. Yet, given the courses and paths taken by philosophical thought in our time, it seems very important to reopen this subject for discussion. The Society therefore wishes the following question to be carefully considered and examined:
Are the source and foundation of moral philosophy to be sought in explaining the idea of morality immediately present in consciousness and the other basic concepts that arise from it, or in some other principle of knowledge?
In German:
The original idea of morality, or the basic concept of the highest moral law, appears with a necessity of its own that is not at all logical. It appears both in the science whose purpose is to set out our knowledge of what is moral and in real life, where it shows itself partly in conscience's judgment of our own actions and partly in our moral judgment of other people's actions. Several basic moral concepts, such as the concept of duty and that of accountability, are inseparable from that idea and arise from it. They too assert themselves with the same necessity and over the same range. Yet, given the paths taken by philosophical inquiry in our time, it seems very important to reopen this subject for investigation. The Society therefore wishes the following question to be carefully considered and discussed:
Are the source and foundation of morality to be sought in an idea of morality immediately present in consciousness (or conscience), and in the analysis of the other basic moral concepts that arise from it, or in some other ground of knowledge?
About this section
Prize Question is part of On the Basis of Morality by Arthur Schopenhauer. This page sets the German original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is section 1 of 24 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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