Patrick Hassann

This talk reconsiders Nietzsche’s historicist critique of Schopenhauer’s claim that compassion [Mitleid] constitutes the ground of morality. Whereas Schopenhauer presents compassion as a transhistorical moral sentiment that in turn provides some evidence for its status as the foundation of ethics, Nietzsche subjects this account to a genealogical and historical debunking. Rather than accepting compassion as a self-evident foundation for ethical life, Nietzsche follows the likes of Herder in asking how such sentiments emerge, transform over time, what forms of valuation sustain them, and whose interests they ultimately serve. Drawing on some contemporary defences of moral sentimentalism which employ genealogical methods (e.g. Jesse Prinz, 2007), It will be argued that Nietzsche’s critique is defensible and puts pressure on the Schopenhauerian position insofar as it pushes towards a degree of relativism that Schopenhauer would have found unacceptable.

Bio

Patrick Hassann is a Senior Lecturer at Cardiff University. His primary areas of interest are moral and existential philosophy, and he typically explores their associated themes within the context of 19th-century European thought (particularly Nietzsche and Schopenhauer). Hassan also has working interests in aesthetics and environmental philosophy.