On Schweitzer’s Life Ethics Thoughts

Albert Schweitzer（1875～1965），a famous theologist, philosopher, musician,and medical scientist, inherits the European Renaissance “humanism” whichemphasizes life ethics and esteems “reverencing life”. His life ethics thoughts springfrom his unique living experiences and academic experiences. He establishedbioethics with the core of “reverencing life”, which is the important thinkingresource of modern peace movement and environmental protection movement.This thesis aims to discuss Schweitzer’s life ethics thoughts from three parts.Chapter one presents the creation of Schweitzer’s life ethics thoughts. Itexplains the logical necessity of the creation of Schweitzer’s life ethics thoughts byanalyzing his growth experiences and academic process. And it expounds that thedevelopment of science and technology brings the prosperity of economic societyand considerable destruction to ecological environment at the same time. The twoWorld Wars spelled calamity, which broke the dream of “science is omnipotent”.These cruel facts formed a spur to Schweitzer’s life ethics thoughts. The idea ofharmonious coexistence between man and other life in western Christian culture andeastern Indian and Chinese culture is the theoretical origin of Schweitzer’s“reverencing life”.Chapter two analyzes the connotation of “reverencing life”, which was the coreof Schweitzer’s life ethics. It firstly introduces different connotations of “reverencinglife” in eastern and western cultures and then illustrates the unique quality andtheoretic framework of “reverencing life”. Schweitzer holds that all the life can beand should be the target of ethical concern and they are equal in being value. Itfinally discusses Schweitzer’s main assumptions of the realization of “reverencinglife”.Chapter three evaluates the gains and losings of Schweitzer’s life ethicsthoughts in both theory and practice. It maintains that Schweitzer’s life ethicsthoughts, which center on “reverencing life”, contribute much in both enriching thetheory of bioethics and guiding social practice in contemporary period. On the otherhand, Schweitzer’s life ethics thoughts have limitations in theory, which mainlyembody in its inner contradiction in theory, unworkability in practice and religiousmysticism included in the theory. Even so, Schweitzer’s life ethics opens a theoretic window of exploringharmonious co-existence between man and nature.