The Two Fundamental Problems of Ethics

The essays in The Two Fundamental Problems of Ethics have a rather special place in Schopenhauer’s work, both being written as entries to Scandinavian philosophy competitions, one in Norway and one in Sweden.  'Essay on the Freedom of the Will' was Schopenhauer’s response to the question posed by the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences in 1839: ‘Is it possible to demonstrate human free will from self-consciousness?’ In a clear and confident response, the 51-year-old philosopher, then living in Frankfurt, laid out his views, under headlines such as ‘What is Freedom’, ‘The Will and the Self-Conscious’, ‘The Will and the Consciousness of Other Things’, ‘Predecessors’, ‘Conclusion' and 'A Higher View'. The essay won.  The following year, Schopenhauer produced a second work on ethics. The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences proposed the question: ‘Is the fountain and basis of Morals to be sought for in an idea of morality which lies directly in the consciousness (or conscience), and