Albert Schweitzer
(1875-1952)
Albert Schweitzer was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. As a Lutheran minister, Schweitzer challenged both the secular view of the historical Jesus as depicted by the historical-critical method current at this time, as well as the traditional Christian view.
In 1899 Schweitzer wrote his PhD dissertation on
The Religious Philosophy of Kant in Paris at the Sorbonne. He published it at the University of Tübingen in 1899. He earned a theology degree at the University of Strasbourg, where he also studied medicine for years, culminating in the degree of M.D. in 1913.
In his 1949 book
Civilization and Ethics (Part 2 of his
Philosophy of Civilization , Schweitzer wrote:
Ethics is nothing other than Reverence for Life. Reverence for Life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, assisting and enhancing life, and to destroy, to harm or to hinder life is evil.
Schweitzer won the Nobel Prize in 1952 for his philosophy of "
Reverence for Life" presented in
Civilization and Ethics.
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