This research proposal primarily focuses on the analysis of metaphysics and ethics in Schopenhauer's thought. I propose to examine his major works, aiming to comprehend what can be conceptualized as amoral behavior, that is, devoid of the attribution of being a good or bad action, and how the different aspects of Schopenhauerian pessimism relate to this perspective. The central objective is to assess whether the implications of the Schopenhauerian system, whether metaphysical, empirical, or acquired, enable the construction of an antinatalist ethics.
The critique elaborated by Bahnsen towards his mentor facilitated the development of his own system, distinct from Schopenhauer, without leaving room for the exercise of moral action. This critique serves as the underlying framework that I intend to follow in order to achieve the goals of delineating the nature of acquired character, establishing a boundary between morality and amorality, especially in the context of antinatalism, identifying the points in Bahnsen's Real Dialectic that diverge from Schopenhauer's Ethics of Compassion, and investigating what makes Bahnsen's ethics antinatalist, albeit not morally antinatalist.