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Schweitzer's philosophy was mainly based on the term Reverence for Life. In his eyes, civilization was in decay because people in general lacked the will to love. It was his firm conviction that all life must be respected and consequently loved, contrary to the then popular philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, and on the same line as the Russian writer and philosopher Leonid Tolstoy. Some people in his days compared his philosophy with that of [Franciscus of Assisi]?, a comparison he did not object to. His personal credo was: 'I am life that wants to live, in the midst of life that wants to live'. Life and love in his view are based on and follow out of the same principle: eternal respect for every living thing in the cosmos and a spiritual relationship (a form of surrender) towards the entire universe. On this conviction he built his ethical/cultural theory, which he advocated widely throughout his entire life and which he hoped would result in a new Renaissance of humanity. He envisioned a humanity that is aware of its context , that lives and works in this world in a noble, elevated sense. He emphasized the necessity to thínk, not to just act on superficial suppositions, or to submissively follow other people's opinions. He was convinced that people who think and go to the bottom of things will eventually find the truth and with it the inner strength to love life. In his opinion respect for life, resulting from one's own conscious will to live, makes one live in service of other people and in fact every living creature, on each scale, large and small. Schweitzer was very much respected for putting his theory in practice himself. |
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Schweitzer's philosophy was mainly based on the term Reverence for Life. In his eyes, civilization was in decay because people in general lacked the will to love. It was his firm conviction that all life must be respected and consequently loved, contrary to the then popular philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, and on the same line as the Russian writer and philosopher Leonid Tolstoy. Some people in his days compared his philosophy with that of Francis of Assisi, a comparison he did not object to. His personal credo was: 'I am life that wants to live, in the midst of life that wants to live'. Life and love in his view are based on and follow out of the same principle: eternal respect for every living thing in the cosmos and a spiritual relationship (a form of surrender) towards the entire universe. On this conviction he built his ethical/cultural theory, which he advocated widely throughout his entire life and which he hoped would result in a new Renaissance of humanity. He envisioned a humanity that is aware of its context , that lives and works in this world in a noble, elevated sense. He emphasized the necessity to thínk, not to just act on superficial suppositions, or to submissively follow other people's opinions. He was convinced that people who think and go to the bottom of things will eventually find the truth and with it the inner strength to love life. In his opinion respect for life, resulting from one's own conscious will to live, makes one live in service of other people and in fact every living creature, on each scale, large and small. Schweitzer was very much respected for putting his theory in practice himself. |
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