On Free Will. On the Basis of Morality

Arthur Schopenhauer 1788 - 1860 – an outstanding German philosopher-irrationalist. The works submitted for competition at the Royal Academy of Sciences of Norway are dedicated to two main problems of ethics: free will and the foundations of morality. According to Schopenhauer, a person does not possess a perfect and established nature. Therefore, he is equally free and unfree. Only will constitutes the essence of man, thus freedom is the privilege of the few... And here is the paradox: in this voluntary enslavement, it is primarily morality that is to blame.