TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
THIS translation was undertaken in the belief that
there are many English-speaking people who feel
more than a merely superficial interest in ethical
research, but who may not read German with sufficient ease to make them care to take up the original.
The present Essay is one of the most important
contributions to Ethics since the time of Kant, and,
as such, is indispensable to a thorough knowledge
of the subject. Moreover, from whatever point of
view it be regarded, whether the reader find, when
he closes the book, that his conviction harmonises
with the conclusion reached, or not ; it would be
difficult to find any treatise on Moral Science more
calculated to stimulate thought, and lift it out of
infantile imitation of some prescribed pattern. The
believer in the Kantian, or any other, basis of Ethics,
could hardly measure the strength or the weakness
of his own position more surely than by comparing
it with the Schopenhauerian ; while he who is yet in search of a foundation will find much in the following pages to claim his attention.
Those acquainted with the luminous imagery, the
subtle irony, the brusque and penetrating vigour of
the German, will doubtless admit that it is no easy
task to reduce Schopenhauer to adequate English
prose; and if this has been attempted by the present
writer, no one can be more conscious than he of the
manifold shortcomings discoverable. But such as
it is, the work is heartily offered to all who still
follow the true student's rule, "Gladly wolde be lerne and gladly teche," with the single hope that it may
help, however slightly, to widen their knowledge,
and ripen their judgment.
My friend, R. E. Candy, Esq., I.C.S., has kindly
given me information concerning several Indian
names.
ROME : June, 1902.
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