The Relationship of Ethics and Sermons in Albert Schweitzer: An Investigation of Reason and Emotion in His Ethics of Reverence for Life

Abstract

This paper will look at Albert Schweitzer’s Reverence of Life as reflected in his philosophical writings and in his sermons, with the aim of evaluating the meaning of this core idea as expressed in varying contexts. In particular, this paper will examine the elements of reason and emotion and their interrelationship in the process of establishing the ethic of Reverence for Life. The first chapter will focus on the issue of Schweitzer’s world view as revealed in the work Culture and Ethics (Kultur und Ethik). It will then lay out a short summary of the process of formation of Schweitzer’s ethic of Reverence for life, followed by an examination of the proposition that the worldview based upon the will to live is indeed the only viable worldview. The critical point of this proposition is the dynamic interrelationship between a naive and optimistic world view and its counterpart, the pessimistic worldview. The ethic of Reverence for Life (an optimistic worldview belonging to a higher stratum) itself must be considered the bridge between these diametrically opposing views. The second chapter will continue the idea of the ethic of Reverence of Life as the bridge to the dynamic interrelationship of the rational (reason) and the emotional elements. Both reason and emotion are vibrantly reflected in his sermons and are presented with similar constructs. Relying on the Collection of Sermons, 1898-1948 (Predigten 1898-1948), this paper will argue that Schweitzer’s thought is not entirely speculative or theoretical but includes an indispensable element of praxis.