Культура и этика

by Albert Schweitzer, Альберт Швейцер

Имя Альберта Швейцера, лауреата Нобелевской премии, известно всему миру.
В данную книгу вошла работа философа "Культура и этика".

Genres: Philosophy, History, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Anthropology, Cultural, Religion

344 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1923

About the author

Albert Schweitzer, M.D., OM, was an Alsatian theologian, musician, philosopher, and physician. He was born in Kaisersberg in Alsace-Lorraine, a Germanophone region which the German Empire returned to France after World War I. Schweitzer challenged both the secular view of historical Jesus current at his time and the traditional Christian view, depicting a Jesus who expected the imminent end of the world. He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize in 1953 for his philosophy of "reverence for life", expressed in many ways, but most famously in founding and sustaining the Lambaréné Hospital in Gabon, west central Africa.

Reviews

[Kurt · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to read this and I've been thinking about how to review it.

It was translated from German to English in something like 1932. The translator himself said that he simply meant to accurately translate the meaning of the original words. He made no attempt to strive for clarity and, in many ways, that showed.

I know nothing of German, but my guess is that compound words are much easier in that language and more commonplace because Dr. Schweitzer made very liberal use of them. This made it rather hard to understand.

To just outline the contents of the book it goes like this:

- explanation of Schweitzer's ethical philosophy
- critique of all previous ethical philosophies
- explanation of Schweitzer's ethical philosophy

So, the middle is the hardest part to get through, though I did get through it and learned a whole lot about philosophy as a whole. He used lots of names (upwards of 100) and seemed to know them all pretty well. But phrases like world- and life-negation, world- and life affirmation, optimistic-ethical, world-view, life-view made it difficult, especially when there were multiple ones in each sentence. You got the feeling he understood what he was talking about, but explaining it wasn't as easy. But this all went away when he talked about civilization, the will-to-live, and reverence for life. These parts of the book (in the beginning and the end) were really beautiful and life-changing and are probably some of the best words written by anyone on anything ever. You got the sense that all these problems in philosophy were finally being solved and not just a feigned solution. They were really being solved.

I'll never forget this book. I share a connection with this work like nothing I could ever adequately explain. Part of me feels a sort of spiritual connection to him as a human being. We are the only 2 people to have ever talked about these issues like this; I having done so before I ever knew of his existence. He said it best: “Through reverence for life, we become, in effect, different persons.”

Well, in this case, reverence for life has made us similar persons. Our intense humanistic (and animarchistic, though he had never heard that word) biophilia similarized our minds to the extent that it was sometimes difficult to tell them apart.

I am in awe, doctor.

The only reason I have given this 4 stars and not 5 is because of the difficult middle portion, but that probably has more to do with the translator than anything else. A new translation is definitely needed. The Philosophy of Civilization is a woefully under-appreciated work of art and philosophy. He gave us the recipe for everlasting peace. I am convinced that future generations will look back on him as the man who started it all; one of the greatest minds in human history; this being his magnum opus.

Save up an appetite for this and then consume it with a ravenousness. It's a large meal, but it's delicious.

[Ahmed Salim · Rating 5 out of 5]

لم يكن الكاتب هو من شدني للكتاب ولكن عنوانه
من العناوين التي ابحث فيها، والثاني هو المترجم والمراجع وهما من قامات الفكر والثقافة... وهذا بدوره فرض أن اتعرف على المؤلف وهو حسب السيرة الذاتية إنسان بما تحمله الكلمة من معني قبل أن يكون طبيب وفي هذا صدق من قال قبل تقرأ لأحد اقرأ سيرته كي تتعرف على الدوافع الذي جاءت بأفكاره، مبادئه وكيف عاش بها..
وهنا تجد طبيبا دافع عن الإنسانية بما لمسه قلبه من حياة وإرادة تسعى لتوقير الحياة. ولد بألمانيا وعلى الحدود مع فرنسا بعد تخرجه ذهب إلى السنغال لينشئ مستشفى ليعالج ما دمرته الحضارة الغربية. واستمر هناك هو وزوجته حتى أصابه مرض بعينيه وعاد إلى ألمانيا...
موضوع الكتاب يتحدث عن فلسفة الحضارة والتي ارجع اهَم أساسات الحضارة هي الأخلاق وهي كانت محل بحثه ٤٢٠ ورقة منذ ماقبل وما بعد سقراط ، الكنفوشية مرورا بعصر النهضة وفلاسفته حتى الفلسفة الأكاديمية ١٩٢٣وهو تاريخ النشر حيث قام بنقد جميع الفلسفات وعلاقتها بالإرادة و نظرتها إلى الكون والعالم بعض الفلسفات اقتربت من تأسيس واقع نظري أخلاقي لكنه لم تفرض نفسها على الواقع وكانت أبرزهم كانط وفشته وابعدهم اسبينوزا وان كانت فلسفته نظريا جيدة لكنها خيالية في نظرتها للعالم والحياة وبعد النقد قام بطرح الحل وهو تقرير الحياة وتقديرها للانسان والحيوان والنبات ونظرة كونية وهي من أسباب دعائم تطور الحضارة التي تسير على أسس التقدم العلمي والجانب الأخلاقي الروحي والتي تحفظ على السواء قيم الإنسانية وتعلى من شأنها كما تحافظ على الحيوان والنبات والتي كانت الحرب العالمية الأولى قد أتت على قيمها وقيمتها الكونية...
كتاب قيم جدا..

[محمد النملة · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب عظيم، يتحدث عن الحضارة والتقدم الإنساني وأنه مرتبط بشكل مباشر بالروحانية، وأن الروحانية لا تتعارض مع التقدم المادي.
ينتقد الكاتب بشكل رئيس اختفاء التفكير المستقل في عصورنا الحالية، وأن التبعية صارت هي المظهر الأساسي لكل الناس، ويدعو للتفكير والوصول إلى الحق دون الإتكاء على تجربة أحدهم.
ويتحدث الكاتب بشكل مفصل عن الأخلاق، وكلام الفلاسفة الأوروبيين عن الأخلاق، وهو كلام صعب في الحقيقة.

لا تكفيني قراءة واحدة، ساقرأه مره أخرى لاحقاً بإذن الله

[Stefanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried so hard. Made it 178 pages but I'm giving up.

[Ryan Elian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is meant for advanced reading on philosophy. Most of the problem is in the translation itself. Schweitzer wrote in German while Campion translated it into English. I think Campion has done pretty well in his work but some may think that a few of the technical words does not match entirely.
Schweitzer defined ethics in the following category: life-view and world-view.
While both words may sound technical, life-view simply means our view about life itself, and world-view means what we think about the world we live in.
Schweitzer further geared both views into negative and positive. For example the Western world nowadays has a positive gear on life, while some oriental parts of the world like India and China have a mix of both. A Hindu practitioner would usually have a negative geared life-view which result in life-resignation or resignation from the world. Some of the Chinese counterpart like Confucius have a positive geared life-view resulting in optimism. The Western world is all to similar to this.

While the book seems to be conjoined together, I would prefer it to be categorised in two ways.
The first half is about historical path of Ethics when it was first formed in the early BC/AD period up to the first mark of 1900. The second part is how ethic was fundamentally formulised, formed, and how its' shortfall can be replaced with a newer foundation.
If the history of Ethics itself has been evaluated and shown as a failure, Schweitzer insisted that a new formula must be created.

I think it first started with the definition of human being as an individual and as collective parts. Schweitzer touched the subject of nature philosophy, epistemological origins, the cosmos, subjective and objective view of the universe, and the theory of men. With these duality and tension in view, Schweitzer put his ideas into the past, into the monumental structure of our own world history. What has been done was individually evaluated in the first part of the book, starting from Socrates, up to the post/pre Renaissance period unto the more modern time in early 1900 period. Schweitzer proved that individually people again and again have failed to form a proper view of Ethic.

I also think and agree (taking from the second part of the book) that the problem with Ethic itself is in its' very definition. Schweitzer comprised that Ethics have been defined relatively from the outside. His position of Ethic is very clear that it starts subjectively from every unique individual persons.
Schweitzer believe that there is commonality origin on how every person is formed, both male or female, human or animals, what is alive or what is not.
This is what has not yet been critically explored in the past history. Past thinker in the Pre and Post Renaissance era have touched into the subject of existentialism, but they haven't yet seem to able to form a structural definition on how those thoughts can be formed into a wider formula of Ethics, for the wider benefit of human being - ultimately unto a better civilization. What Schweitzer has formulated here is much redefinition of "good" or "bad" and what is "moral". It is about what he believes is fundamentally important to each person and the wider world.

The second part of the book has made it very much clearer in this chapter: "Ethics of Reverence of Life". His formulated Ethics has stand corrected with re-definition of what has been (or has not) in the past. I can vouch the integrity of Schweitzer's formula but basic understanding of Ethic is required in reading this book. The book itself is a must for all philosophy freaks out there. Schweitzer has brought important questions (and answers) that is worth reading.

[noblethumos · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Philosophy of Civilization is a book written by Albert Schweitzer, a German theologian, philosopher, and humanitarian. The book is a collection of essays in which Schweitzer reflects on the nature of civilization and the challenges facing modern society. In these essays, Schweitzer discusses issues such as the decay of civilization, the need for ethical renewal, and the role of religion in shaping the course of history. He also reflects on the impact of major events and trends, such as the two world wars and the rise of technology, on the development of civilization and suggests that these events have had significant consequences for the direction of society. The Philosophy of Civilization is considered a classic work of philosophical thought and is widely regarded as an important resource for understanding Schweitzer's ideas about the nature of civilization and the challenges facing modern society.

GPT