The Restoration of Albert Schweitzer's Ethical Vision

The Restoration of Albert Schweitzer's Ethical Vision PDF

Author: Predrag Cicovacki

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2012-04-26

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 1441197524

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In 1913, Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) left his internationally renowned career as a theologian, philosopher, and organ player to open a hospital in the jungles of Africa. There he developed in theory and practice his ethics of reverence for life. When he published his most important philosophical work, The Philosophy of Civilization, few people were serious about treating animals with dignity and giving any consideration to environmental issues. Schweitzer's urge was heard but not fully appreciated. One hundred years later, we are in a better position to do it. Predrag Cicovacki's book is a call to restore Schweitzer's vision. After critically and systematically discussing the most important aspects of the ethics of reverence for life, Cicovacki argues that the restoration of Schweitzer does not mean the restoration of any particular doctrine. It means summoning enough courage to reverse the deadly course of our civilization. And it also means establishing a way of life that stimulates striving toward what is the best and highest in human beings.

Restoration of Albert SchweitzerGÇÖs Ethical Vision

Restoration of Albert SchweitzerGÇÖs Ethical Vision PDF

Author:

Publisher:

Published:

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13:

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DivIn 1913, Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) left his internationally renowned career as a theologian, philosopher, and organ player to open a hospital in the jungles of Africa. There he developed in theory and practice his ethics of reverence for life. When he published his most important philosophical work, The Philosophy of Civilization , few people were serious about treating animals with dignity and giving any consideration to environmental issues. Schweitzer's urge was heard but not fully appreciated. One hundred years later, we are in a better position to do it. Predrag Cicovacki book is a call to restore Schweitzer's vision. After critically and systematically discussing the most important aspects of the ethics of reverence for life, Cicovacki argues that the restoration of Schweitzer does not mean the restoration of any particular doctrine. It means summoning enough courage to reverse the deadly course of our civilization. And it also means establishing a way of life that stimulates striving toward what is the best and highest in human beings./div

Albert Schweitzer's Ethical Vision

Albert Schweitzer's Ethical Vision PDF

Author: Albert Schweitzer

Publisher:

Published: 2023

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780197738139

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Schweitzer argues that knowledge of human nature does not lead to any unique moral theory, and that the material element of our civilization has become far more important than its spiritual counterpart. This collection of 15 of Schweitzer's most effective essays is a compelling introduction to this remarkable thinker.

Reverence for Life

Reverence for Life PDF

Author: Albert Schweitzer

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2014-12-02

Total Pages: 63

ISBN-13: 149767574X

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This “little gem of a book” shares the Nobel laureate’s profound insights on ethics, ecology, human rights, and more (Jane Goodall). The theologian and humanitarian Albert Schweitzer dedicated his life to the betterment of mankind. In 1952, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his philosophy of Reverence for Life—and for the many ways he put that philosophy into action. This volume gathers together his thoughts on this profound and deeply influential concept. Based on a fundamental respect and compassion for all living things, Schweitzer’s philosophy sought to reconcile the conflicting drives of egoism and altruism. He applied this ethical perspective to a host of topics, from war and peace to arts, animal rights, and forming a global community. Reverence for Life draws on Schweitzer’s diverse writings across decades, including excerpts from previously unpublished letters to John F. Kennedy, Norman Cousins, Bertrand Russell, and others. A foreword by former US Ambassador, Roger Gamble, an introduction by the editor, Harold E. Robles, and a brief biographical sketch of Schweitzer’s life round out this essential volume.

Reverence for Life

Reverence for Life PDF

Author: Ara Paul Barsam

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2008-01-29

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 0198044089

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Albert Schweitzer maintained that the idea of "Reverence for Life" came upon him on the Ogowe River as an "unexpected discovery, like a revelation in the midst of intense thought." While Schweitzer made numerous significant contributions to an incredible diversity of fields - medicine, music, biblical studies, philosophy and theology - he regarded Reverence for Life as his greatest contribution and the one by which he most wanted to be remembered. Yet this concept has been the subject of a range of distortions and misunderstandings, both academic and popular. In this book, Ara Barsam provides a new interpretation of Schweitzer's reverence and shows how it emerged from his studies of German philosophy, Indian religions, and his biblical scholarship on Jesus and Paul. By throwing light on the origin and development of Schweitzer's thought, Barsam leads his readers to a closer appreciation of the contribution that reverence makes to current ethical issues. Whereas previous commentators have focused on "reverence for life" as a philosophical ethic located in that tradition, this book demonstrates that it is in fact Schweitzer's theology that provides the hitherto undiscerned foundation for his ethic. Even among those who herald Schweitzer as the one who brought "reverence" to Christianity, there exists a tendency to underemphasize how his thinking also developed from his pivotal encounter with Indian religions. As Barsam shows, it is impossible to grasp the nature and the significance of Barsam's contribution without addressing that link. Life-centered ethics - in the broadest sense - have continued to flourish, yet Schweitzer's pioneering contribution is often overlooked. Not only did he help establish the issue on the moral agenda, but, most significant, he also provided much sought after philosophical and theological foundations. Schweitzer emerges from this critical study of his life and thought as a remarkable individual who should rightfully be regarded as a moral giant of the twentieth-century.

Albert Schweitzer in Thought and Action

Albert Schweitzer in Thought and Action PDF

Author: James Carleton Paget

Publisher: Syracuse University Press

Published: 2016-12-09

Total Pages: 502

ISBN-13: 0815653689

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In the 1940s and 1950s, Albert Schweitzer was one of the best-known figures on the world stage. Courted by monarchs, world statesmen, and distinguished figures from the literary, musical, and scientific fields, Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952, cementing his place as one of the great intellectual leaders of his time. Schweitzer is less well known now but nonetheless a man of perennial fascination, and this volume seeks to bring his achievements across a variety of areas—philosophy, theology, and medicine—into sharper focus. To that end, international scholars from diverse disciplines offer a wide-ranging examination of Schweitzer’s life and thought over the course of forty years. Albert Schweitzer in Thought and Action gives readers a fuller, richer, and more nuanced picture of this controversial but monumental figure of twentieth-century life—and, in some measure, of that complex century itself.

The World View of Reverence for Life

The World View of Reverence for Life PDF

Author: Percy Mark

Publisher:

Published: 2020-02-18

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13:

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This work addresses the central issues which need to inform the nature of the next evolutionary step which humankind has to take if it is to find a way to survive the climatic changes, the mass extinctions, the devastation and pollution which the life-style of our species has caused on this planet during the last three centuries.The 25 year old Albert Schweitzer did not share the euphoria which dominated the New Year's celebrations of 1900 in Europe, and the experience caused him to decide to write a Philosophy of Civilisation. It was to appear in four parts and was to explore the concept of civilisation throughout history and projected into the future. Whilst going in search for the root cause of what he perceived as the decay of civilisation in our time, he found a vacuum at the core of European thought. There was no connection between the prevalent euphoric affirmation of life and the ethical character which to him seemed to be the essential ingredient of a thriving civilisation.He had been a professor of theology and philosophy since his early 20's - so he knew his subject well - but whilst pondering deeply over this vacuum he found himself at an impasse. Then, in 1915, the realisation came to him that an attitude of reverence towards all life - towards Life itself - had to be the missing link to fill this vacuum and form a bridge that would lead to a new, revitalised concept of civilisation.The first two books of his four-part philosophy were published in German and in English in 1923 under the titles: 'The Decay and the Restoration of Civilisation' and 'Civilisation and Ethics"Part Three, which was to be called "The World View of Reverence for Life" became the focus of his philosophical writing between 1931 - 1945 (whilst raising the funds and building and running a large hospital in the jungle of central Africa). But this work remained incomplete.Part Four, to be called "The Civilised State", was never started. A selection from the thousands of pages of manuscript for Part Three, which were found after Schweitzer's death, was published in German in 1999, and it is a further selection from this published work that has been translated and commented on by Percy Mark in this publication.

Reverence For Life

Reverence For Life PDF

Author: Marvin Meyer

Publisher: Syracuse University Press

Published: 2002-10-01

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 9780815629771

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Albert Schweitzer's system of ethics as a way of life in which individuals live with compassion and respect for all living things—humans, animals, and plants—or "Reverence for Life" is illuminated here through a series of compelling essays by Schweitzer and renowned contemporary Schweitzer scholars from around the globe. The selection of Schweitzer's writings includes, sermons, letters, and autobiographical and philosophical works chosen by the editors to outline the development of his thought throughout his lifetime.

Decolonising Imperial Heroes

Decolonising Imperial Heroes PDF

Author: Max Jones

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-10-02

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 1317270126

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The heroes of the British and French empires stood at the vanguard of the vibrant cultures of imperialism that emerged in Europe in the second-half of the nineteenth century. Their stories are well known. Scholars have tended to assume that figures such as Livingstone and Gordon, or Marchand and Brazza, vanished rapidly at the end of empire. Yet imperial heroes did not disappear after 1945, as British and French flags were lowered around the world. On the contrary, their reputations underwent a variety of metamorphoses in both the former metropoles and the former colonies. This book develops a framework to understand the complex legacies of decolonisation, both political and cultural, through the case study of imperial heroes. We demonstrate that the ‘decolonisation’ of imperial heroes was a much more complex and protracted process than the political retreat from empire, and that it is still an ongoing phenomenon, even half a century after the world has ceased to be ‘painted in red’. Whilst Decolonising Imperial Heroes explores the appeal of the explorers, humanitarians and missionaries whose stories could be told without reference to violence against colonized peoples, it also analyses the persistence of imperial heroes as sites of political dispute in the former metropoles. Demonstrating that the work of remembrance was increasingly carried out by diverse, fragmented groups of non-state actors, in a process we call ‘the privatisation of heroes’, the book reveals the surprising rejuvenation of imperial heroes in former colonies, both in nation-building narratives and as heritage sites. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History.