Descartes' Error and the Barbarity of Western Philosophy: Schopenhauer in Dialogue with Coetzee's Elizabeth Costello

I argue that Schopenhauer's concept of compassion (Mitleid) and his understanding of nature as a continuum, alongside his detailed reports on the differences between man and the animals - often the results of direct, careful observation of animal behaviour - constitute a fitting, philosophical answer to the problems of modern ethics which Coetzee presents in his short novel "The Lives of Animals". In response to the bitter denunciation of the limits of a philosophical approach to animal ethics, made by the novel's main character, Elizath Costello, this essay look at Schopenhauer's work as a precious source as well as an important contribution to the discussion on the suffering of animals.