Do you have an opinion on the ethical modell of compassion by Schopenhauer? Out of mere curiosity,,,
So to preface, I don't actually know too much about moral philosophy so this is me talking out of my ass after reading it up on wikipedia. But like... insofar as the compassionate basis of morality goes... It seems a bit narrow.
If we're basing it on the below...
If an action has as its motive an egoistic aim, it cannot have any moral worth. Only insofar as an action has sprung from compassion does it have moral value; and every action resulting from any other motives has none.
So... real life motivations are complicated. If a person decides to donate money to a cause they sincerely care about, but decide the amount to donate based on their available tax deduction (common thing to do), does the egoistic aim negate the sincere desire to help?
If it does, then this model render too many actions amoral and doesn't differentiate enough between amoral and immoral. Like, I just think there should be something to differentiate donating money for tax deduction vs. killing someone.
He also defines compassion as the prevention/elimination of suffering. Which also seems a bit narrow.
And, okay... I specifically grew up Christian, so I had to think about this a lot. If one is to assume hell is real, any act to prevent a loved one from going to hell would be a compassionate act. Any suffering caused in the process is negligible compared to eternal damnation. It's a bit of an edge case, and I don't think the kantian model address it any better.
Anyway I think the Kantian model seem to make more sense to me.
Anyway thanks for the ask it was kinda interesting reading up on it! Hope you're enjoying your studies?