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Albert Schweitzer 4 September 1965 ) was an Alsace | Alsatian polymath . He was a theologian , organist , writer , humanitarian , philosopher , and physician . A Lutheran , Schweitzer challenged both the secular view of historical Jesus | Jesus as depicted by the historical-critical method current at this time , as well as the traditional Christology | Christian view . His contributions to the interpretation of Pauline Christianity concern the role of Paul the Apostle | Paul ' s mysticism of " being in Christ " as primary and the doctrine of Justification by faith | Justification by Faith as secondary . |
He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of " Reverence for Life , . " becoming the eighth Frenchman to be awarded that prize . His philosophy was expressed in many ways , but most famously in founding and sustaining the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné , which up to 1958 was situated in French Equatorial Africa , and after this in Gabon . As a music scholar and organist , he studied the music of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach and influenced the Organ reform movement | Organ Reform Movement ( " Orgelbewegung " ) . |
Schweitzer was born a citizen of the German Empire in the Alsace-Lorraine | Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine . He later became a citizen of France after World War I , since Alsace had become French territory by then . |
Schweitzer was born 14 January 1874 in Kaysersberg in Alsace , in what had less than four years previously become Alsace-Lorraine | The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine in German Empire | The German Empire . He was the son of Louis Schweitzer and Adèle Schillinger . |
Schweitzer 's first language was the Alsatian dialect of German . At the Mulhouse Gymnasium ( school ) | gymnasium he received his " Abitur " ( the certificate at the end of secondary education ) in 1893 . He studied Organ ( music ) | organ in Mulhouse from 1885 to 1893 with Eugène Munch , organist at the Protestant cathedral , who inspired Schweitzer with his enthusiasm for the music of German composer Richard Wagner .A. Schweitzer , " Eugene Munch " ( J. Brinkmann , Mulhouse 1898 ) . In 1893 , he played for the French organist Charles-Marie Widor ( at Saint-Sulpice , Paris ) , for whom Johann Sebastian Bach ' s organ music contained a mystic sense of the eternal . Widor , deeply impressed , agreed to teach Schweitzer without fee , and a great and influential friendship thus began . |
From 1893 Schweitzer studied Protestant theology at the University of Strasbourg | Kaiser Wilhelm University in Strasbourg . There he also received instruction in piano and counterpoint from professor Gustav Jacobsthal , and associated closely with Ernest Munch , the brother of his former teacher , organist of St William church , who was also a passionate admirer of J.S. Bach 's music . |
In 1905 , Schweitzer began his study of medicine at the University of Strasbourg , culminating in the degree of M.D. in 1913 . |
Schweitzer rapidly gained prominence as a musical scholar and organist , dedicated also to the rescue , restoration and study of historic pipe organ s . With theological insight , he interpreted the use of pictorial and symbolical representation in Johann Sebastian Bach | J. S. Bach 's religious music . In 1899 , he astonished Widor by explaining figures and motifs in Bach 's Chorale Preludes as painter-like tonal and rhythmic imagery illustrating themes from the words of the hymns on which they were based . They were works of devotional contemplation in which the musical design corresponded to literary ideas , conceived visually . Widor had not grown up with knowledge of the old Lutheran hymns . |
The exposition of these ideas , encouraged by Widor and Munch , became Schweitzer 's last task , and appeared in the masterly study " J. S. Bach : Le Musicien-Poète " , written in French and published in 1905 . There was great demand for a German edition , but , instead of translating it , he decided to rewrite it.Schweitzer , " My Life and Thought " , pp 80-81 ; cf . |
His pamphlet " The Art of Organ Building and Organ Playing in Germany and France " ( 1906 , Reproduced in : Text of 1909 Questionnaire and Report , pp. 235-269 . This provided the basis for the " International Regulations for Organ Building " . He envisaged instruments in which the French late-romantic full-organ sound should work integrally with the English and German romantic reed pipe s , and with the classical Alsace Gottfried Silbermann | Silbermann organ resources and baroque flue pipe s , all in registers regulated ( by Organ stop | stops ) to access distinct voices in fugue or counterpoint capable of combination without loss of distinctness : different voices singing the same music together . |
Schweitzer also studied piano under Isidor Philipp , head of the piano department at the Paris Conservatory . |
In 1905 , Widor and Schweitzer were among the six musicians who founded the Paris Bach Society , a choir dedicated to performing J.S. Bach 's music , for whose concerts Schweitzer took the organ part regularly until 1913 . He was also appointed organist for the Bach Concerts of the Orféo Català at Barcelona , Spain , and often travelled there for that purpose . |
On departure for Lambaréné in 1913 , he was presented with a pedal piano , a piano with pedal attachments to operate like an organ pedal-keyboard.Given by the Paris Bach Society , plate facing p . 177 . According to a visitor , Dr. Gaine Cannon , of Balsam Grove , N.C. , the old , dilapidated piano-organ was still being played by Dr. Schweitzer in 1962 , and stories told that " his fingers were still lively " on the old instrument at 88 years of age . |
Sir Donald Tovey dedicated his conjectural completion of Bach 's " The Art of Fugue " to Schweitzer . |
Schweitzer 's recordings of organ-music , and his innovative recording technique , are described # Sound recordings | below . |
One of his pupils was conductor and composer Hans Münch ( conductor ) | Hans Münch . |
In 1899 , Schweitzer became a deacon at the Saint Nicholas Church , Strasbourg | church of Saint Nicholas in Strasbourg . In 1900 , with the completion of his licentiate in theology , he was ordained as curate , and that year he witnessed the Oberammergau Passion Play . In the following year he became provisional Principal of the Theological College of Saint Thomas Church ( Strasbourg ) | Saint Thomas , from which he had just graduated , and in 1903 his appointment was made permanent . |
In 1906 , he published " Geschichte der Leben-Jesu-Forschung " ( " History of Life-of-Jesus research " ) . This book , which established his reputation , was first published in English in 1910 as " The Quest of the Historical Jesus " . Under this title the book became famous in the English-speaking world . A second German edition was published in 1913 , containing theologically significant revisions and expansions : this revised edition did not appear in English until 2001 . In 1931 , he published " Mystik des Apostels Paulus " ( " The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle " ) ; a second edition was published in 1953 . |
In " The Quest " , Schweitzer maintained that the life of Jesus must be interpreted in the light of Jesus ' own convictions , which reflected late Jewish eschatology and apocalypticism . Schweitzer writes : |
Schweitzer cross-referenced the many New Testament verses declaring imminent fulfilment of the promise of the World 's ending within the lifetime of Jesus 's original followers . He wrote that in his view , in the Gospel of Mark , Jesus speaks of a " tribulation , " with his " coming in the clouds with great power and glory " ( St. Mark ) , and states that it will happen but it has not : " This generation shall not pass , till all these things be fulfilled " ( St. Matthew , 24 : 34 ) or , " have taken place " ( Luke 21 : 32 ) . Similarly , in 1st Peter 1 : 20 , " Christ , who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you , " as well as " But the end of all things is at hand , " ( 1 Peter 4 : 7 ) and " Surely , I come quickly . " ( Revelation 22 : 20 ) . |
In " The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle " , Schweitzer first distinguishes between two categories of mysticism : primitive and developed . |
On the other hand , a more developed form of mysticism can be found in the Greek mystery-cults that were popular in first-century A.D. society . These included the cults of Attis , Osiris , and Mithras . A developed form of mysticism is attained when the " conception of the universal is reached and a man reflects upon his relation to the totality of being and to Being in itself . " Schweitzer claims that this form of mysticism is more intellectual and can be found " among the Brahman s and in the Buddha , in Platonism , in Stoicism , in Spinoza , Schopenhauer , and Hegel . " |
Next , Schweitzer poses the question : " Of what precise kind then is the mysticism of Paul ? " He locates Paul between the two extremes of primitive mysticism and developed mysticism . Paul stands high above primitive mysticism , due to his intellectual writings , but never speaks of being one with God or being in God . Instead , he conceives of Adoption ( theology ) | sonship to God as " mediated and effected by means of the mystical union with Christ . " He summarizes Pauline mysticism as " being in Christ " rather than " being in God . " |
Paul 's imminent eschatology ( from his background in Jewish eschatology ) causes him to believe that the kingdom of God has not yet come and that Christians are now living in the time of Christ . Christ-mysticism holds the field until God-mysticism becomes possible , which is in the near future . |
One of Schweitzer 's major arguments in " The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle " is that Paul 's mysticism , marked by his phrase " being in Christ , " gives the clue to the whole of Pauline theology . Rather than reading justification by faith as the main topic of Pauline thought , which has been the most popular argument set forward by Martin Luther , Schweitzer argues that Paul 's emphasis was on the mystical union with God by " being in Christ . " Jaroslav Pelikan , in his Foreword to " The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle , " points out that : |
Schweitzer contrasts Paul 's " realistic " dying and rising with Christ to the " symbolism " of Hellenism ( Greek culture ) | Hellenism . Although Paul is widely influenced by Hellenistic thought , he is not controlled by it . Schweitzer explains that Paul focused on the idea of fellowship with the divine being through the " realistic " dying and rising with Christ rather than the " symbolic " Hellenistic act of becoming like Christ through deification . |
Another major difference between Paul 's " realism " and Hellenistic " symbolism " is the exclusive nature of the former and the inclusive nature of the latter . Schweitzer unabashedly emphasizes the fact that " Paul 's thought follows Predestination | predestinarian lines . " Although every human being is invited to become a Christian , only those who have undergone the initiation into the Christian community through baptism can share in the " realistic " dying and rising with Christ . |
At the age of 30 , in 1905 , Schweitzer answered the call of The Society of the Evangelist Missions of Paris , which was looking for a physician . The committee of this missionary society was not ready to accept his offer , considering his Lutheran theology to be " incorrect . " ! -- Wouldn 't the fact that Schweitzer wasn 't a physician be an equally likely reason ? -- He could easily have obtained a place in a German evangelical mission , but wished to follow the original call despite the doctrinal difficulties . Amid a hail of protests from his friends , family and colleagues , he resigned his post and re-entered the university as a student in a three-year course towards the degree of Doctorate in Medicine , a subject in which he had little knowledge or previous aptitude . He planned to spread the Gospel by the example of his Christian labour of healing , rather than through the verbal process of preaching , and believed that this service should be acceptable within any branch of Christian teaching . |
Even in his study of medicine , and through his clinical course , Schweitzer pursued the ideal of the philosopher-scientist . By extreme application and hard work , he completed his studies successfully at the end of 1911 . His medical degree dissertation was another work on the historical Jesus , " The Psychiatric Study of Jesus " . He defended Mental health of Jesus | Jesus ′ mental health in it . In June 1912 , he married Helene Bresslau Schweitzer | Helene Bresslau , municipal inspector for orphans and daughter of the Jewish pan-Germanist historian Harry Bresslau .ref name = " Marxsen " Marxsen , Patti M. " Helene Schweitzer : A Life of Her Own . " First Edition . Syracuse , New York : Syracuse University Press , 2015 . |
In 1912 , now armed with a medical degree , Schweitzer made a definite proposal to go as a physician to work at his own expense in the Paris Missionary Society 's mission at Lambaréné on the Ogooué river , in what is now Gabon , in Africa ( then a French colony ) . He refused to attend a committee to inquire into his doctrine , but met each committee member personally and was at last accepted . Through concerts and other fund-raising , he was ready to equip a small hospital . " From the Primeval Forest " , Chapter 1 . In early 1913 , he and his wife set off to establish a hospital ( Albert Schweitzer Hospital ) near an existing mission post . The site was nearly 200 miles ( 14 days by raft " From the Primeval Forest " , Chapter 6 . ) upstream from the mouth of the Ogooué at Port Gentil ( Cape Lopez ) ( and so accessible to external communications ) , but downstream of most tributaries , so that internal communications within Gabon converged towards Lambaréné . |
In the first nine months , he and his wife had about 2,000 patients to examine , some travelling many days and hundreds of kilometres to reach him . In addition to injuries , he was often treating severe sandflea and crawcraw sores , " framboesia " ( yaws ) , tropical Ulcer ( dermatology ) | eating sores , heart disease , tropical dysentery , tropical malaria , African trypanosomiasis | sleeping sickness , leprosy , fevers , strangulated hernias , necrosis , abdominal tumours and chronic constipation and nicotine poisoning , while also attempting to deal with deliberate poisonings , fetishism and fear of cannibalism among the Ethnic groups in Gabon | Mbahouin . |
Schweitzer 's wife , Helene Schweitzer , was an anaesthetist for surgical operations . After briefly occupying a shed formerly used as a chicken hut , in late 1913 they built their first hospital of corrugated iron , with two 13-foot rooms ( consulting room and operating theatre ) and with a dispensary and sterilising room in spaces below the broad eaves . The waiting room and dormitory ( 42 by 20 feet ) were built , like native huts , of unhewn logs along a 30-yard path leading from the hospital to the landing-place . The Schweitzers had their own bungalow and employed as their assistant Joseph , a French-speaking Galoa ( Mpongwe ) who first came as a patient . " From the Primeval Forest " , Chapters 3-5 . |
After World War I broke out in July 1914 , Schweitzer and his wife , German citizens in a French colony when the countries were at war , were put under supervision by the French military at Lambaréné , where Schweitzer continued his work .. In July 1918 , after being transferred to his home in Alsace , he was a free man again . At this time Schweitzer , born a German citizen , had his parents ' former ( pre-1871 ) French citizenship reinstated and became a French citizen . Then , working as medical assistant and assistant-pastor in Strasbourg , he advanced his project on the philosophy of civilization , which had occupied his mind since 1900 . By 1920 , his health recovering , he was giving organ recitals and doing other fund-raising work to repay borrowings and raise funds for returning to Gabon . In 1922 , he delivered the Dale Memorial Lectures in the University of Oxford , and from these in the following year appeared Volumes I and II of his great work , " The Decay and Restoration of Civilization " and " Civilization and Ethics " . The two remaining volumes , on " The World-View of Reverence for Life " and a fourth on the Civilized State , were never completed . |
In 1924 , he returned without his wife , but with an Oxford undergraduate , Noel Gillespie , as assistant . Everything was heavily decayed , and building and doctoring progressed together for months . He now had salvarsan for treating syphilitic ulcers and framboesia . Additional medical staff , nurse ( Miss ) Kottmann and Dr. Victor Nessmann , Nessmann worked with the French Resistance during the Second World War , was captured and executed by the Gestapo in Limoges in 1944. cf Guy Penaud , " Dictionnaire Biographique de Périgord " , p . 713. joined him in 1924 , and Dr. Mark Lauterberg in 1925 ; the growing hospital was manned by native orderlies . Later Dr. Trensz replaced Nessmann , and Martha Lauterberg and Hans Muggenstorm joined them . Joseph also returned . In 1925-6 , new hospital buildings were constructed , and also a ward for white patients , so that the site became like a village . The onset of famine and a dysentery epidemic created fresh problems . Much of the building work was carried out with the help of local people and patients . Drug advances for sleeping sickness included Suramin | Germanin and tryparsamide . Trensz conducted experiments showing that the non-amoebic strain of dysentery was caused by a paracholera vibrion ( facultative anaerobic bacteria ) . With the new hospital built and the medical team established , Schweitzer returned to Europe in 1927 , this time leaving a functioning hospital at work . |
He was there again from 1929 to 1932 . Gradually his opinions and concepts became acknowledged , not only in Europe , but worldwide . There was a further period of work in 1935 . In January 1937 , he returned again to Lambaréné and continued working there throughout World War II . |
Schweitzer considered his work as a medical missionary in Africa to be his response to Jesus ' call to become " fishers of men " but also as a small recompense for the historic guilt of European colonialism | colonizers : . |
Schweitzer was one of colonialism 's harshest critics . In a sermon that he preached on 6 January 1905 , before he had told anyone of his plans to dedicate the rest of his life to work as a physician in Africa , he said : |
Oh , this ' noble ' culture of ours ! It speaks so piously of human dignity and human rights and then disregards this dignity and these rights of countless millions and treads them underfoot , only because they live overseas or because their skins are of different colour or because they cannot help themselves . This culture does not know how hollow and miserable and full of glib talk it is , how common it looks to those who follow it across the seas and see what it has done there , and this culture has no right to speak of personal dignity and human rights ... |
I will not enumerate all the crimes that have been committed under the pretext of justice . People robbed native inhabitants of their land , made slaves of them , let loose the scum of mankind upon them . Think of the atrocities that were perpetrated upon people made subservient to us , how systematically we have ruined them with our alcoholic ' gifts ' , and everything else we have done ... We decimate them , and then , by the stroke of a pen , we take their land so they have nothing left at all ... |
If all this oppression and all this sin and shame are perpetrated under the eye of the German God , or the American God , or the British God , and if our states do not feel obliged first to lay aside their claim to be ' Christian ' - then the name of Jesus is blasphemed and made a mockery . And the Christianity of our states is blasphemed and made a mockery before those poor people . The name of Jesus has become a curse , and our Christianity - yours and mine - has become a falsehood and a disgrace , if the crimes are not atoned for in the very place where they were instigated . For every person who committed an atrocity in Jesus ' name , someone must step in to help in Jesus ' name ; for every person who robbed , someone must bring a replacement ; for everyone who cursed , someone must bless . |
And now , when you speak about missions , let this be your message : We must make atonement for all the terrible crimes we read of in the newspapers . We must make atonement for the still worse ones , which we do not read about in the papers , crimes that are shrouded in the silence of the jungle night |
Schweitzer was nonetheless still sometimes accused of being Paternalism | paternalistic , Colonialism | colonialist , and Racism | racist in his attitude towards Africans , and in some ways his views did differ from that of many Liberalism | liberals and other critics of colonialism . |
American journalist John Gunther visited Lambaréné in the 1950s and reported Schweitzer 's patronizing attitude towards Africans . He also noted the lack of Africans trained to be skilled workers . |
The journalist James Cameron ( journalist ) | James Cameron visited Lambaréné in 1953 ( when Schweitzer was 78 ) and found significant flaws in the practices and attitudes of Schweitzer and his staff . The hospital suffered from squalor and was without modern amenities , and Schweitzer had little contact with the local people . Cameron did not make public what he had seen at the time : according to a BBC dramatisation , he made the unusual journalistic decision to withhold the story , and resisted the expressed wish of his employers to publish an exposé.On Monday 7 April 2008 ( " " The Walrus and the Terrier " by Christopher Ralling concerning Cameron 's visit . |
The poor conditions of the hospital in Lambaréné were also famously criticized by Nigerian professor and novelist Chinua Achebe in his essay on Joseph Conrad ' s novel " Heart of Darkness " : " In a comment which has often been quoted Schweitzer says : ' The African is indeed my brother but my junior brother . ' And so he proceeded to build a hospital appropriate to the needs of junior brothers with standards of hygiene reminiscent of medical practice in the days before the germ theory of disease came into being . " |
The keynote of Schweitzer 's personal philosophy ( which he considered to be his greatest contribution to mankind ) was the idea of " Reverence for Life " ( " " Ehrfurcht vor dem Leben " " ) . He thought that Western culture | Western civilization was decaying because it had abandoned affirmation of life as its Ethics | ethical foundation . |
In the Preface to " Civilization and Ethics " ( 1923 ) he argued that Western philosophy from René Descartes | Descartes to Immanuel Kant | Kant had set out to explain the objective world expecting that humanity would be found to have a special meaning within it . But no such meaning was found , and the rational , life-affirming optimism of the Age of Enlightenment began to evaporate . A rift opened between this world-view , as material knowledge , and the life-view , understood as Will ( philosophy ) | Will , expressed in the Pessimism | pessimist philosophies from Arthur Schopenhauer | Schopenhauer onward . Scientific materialism ( advanced by Herbert Spencer and Charles Darwin ) portrayed an objective world process devoid of ethics , entirely an expression of the will-to-live . |
Schweitzer wrote , " True philosophy must start from the most immediate and comprehensive fact of consciousness , and this may be formulated as follows : ' I am life which wills to live , and I exist in the midst of life which wills to live . ' " " Civilization and Ethics " , Chapter 21 , p . 253 : reprinted as A. Schweitzer , " The Philosophy of Civilization " , ( Prometheus Books , Buffalo 1987 ) , Chapter 26 . In nature one form of life must always prey upon another . However , human consciousness holds an awareness of , and sympathy for , the will of other beings to live . An ethical human strives to escape from this contradiction so far as possible . |
Though we cannot perfect the endeavour we should strive for it : the will-to-live constantly renews itself , for it is both an evolutionary necessity and a spiritual phenomenon . Life and love are rooted in this same principle , in a personal spiritual relationship to the universe . Ethics themselves proceed from the need to respect the wish of other beings to exist as one does towards oneself . Even so , Schweitzer found many instances in world religions and philosophies in which the principle was denied , not least in the European Middle Ages , and in the Indian Brahmin ic philosophy . |
For Schweitzer , mankind had to accept that objective reality is ethically neutral . It could then affirm a new Enlightenment through spiritual rationalism , by giving priority to Volition ( psychology ) | volition or ethical will as the primary meaning of life . Mankind had to choose to create the moral structures of civilization : the world-view must derive from the life-view , not vice versa . Respect for life , overcoming coarser impulses and hollow doctrines , leads the individual to live in the service of other people and of every living creature . In contemplation of the will-to-life , respect for the life of others becomes the highest principle and the defining purpose of humanity . " Civilization and Ethics " , Preface and Chapter II , ' The Problem of the Optimistic World-View ' . |
Such was the theory which Schweitzer sought to put into practice in his own life . According to some authors , Schweitzer 's thought , and specifically his development of reverence for life , was influenced by Indian religions | Indian religious thought and in particular the Jainism | Jain principle of Ahimsa in Jainism | ahimsa , or non-violence.Ara Paul Barsam ( 2002 ) " Albert Schweitzer , jainism and reverence for life " in : " Reverence for life : the ethics of Albert Schweitzer for the twenty-first century " Syracuse : Syracuse University Press , pp. 207-08 Albert Schweitzer noted the contribution of Indian influence in his book " Indian Thought and Its Development " : Albert Schweitzer and Charles Rhind Joy ( 1947 ) " Albert Schweitzer : an anthology " Beacon Press |
After the birth of their daughter ( Rhena Schweitzer Miller ) , Albert 's wife , Helene Schweitzer was no longer able to live in Lambaréné due to her health . In 1923 , the family moved to Königsfeld im Schwarzwald , Baden-Württemberg , where he was building a house for the family . This house is now maintained as a Schweitzer museum . |
From 1939-48 he stayed in Lambaréné , unable to go back to Europe because of the war . Three years after the end of World War II , in 1948 , he returned for the first time to Europe and kept travelling back and forth ( and once to the US ) as long as he was able . During his return visits to his home village of Gunsbach , Schweitzer continued to make use of the family house , which after his death became an archive and museum to his life and work . His life was portrayed in the 1952 movie " Il est minuit , Docteur Schweitzer " , starring Pierre Fresnay as Albert Schweitzer and Jeanne Moreau as his nurse Marie . Schweitzer inspired actor Hugh O 'Brian when O 'Brian visited in Africa . O 'Brian returned to the United States and founded the Hugh O 'Brian Youth Leadership Foundation ( HOBY ) . |
Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize of 1952 , - at Tennessee Players |
Weeks prior to his death , an American film crew was allowed to visit Schweitzer and Drs. Muntz and Friedman , both Holocaust survivors , to record his work and daily life at the hospital . The film " The Legacy of Albert Schweitzer " , narrated by Henry Fonda , was produced by Warner Brothers and aired once . It resides in their vault today in deteriorating condition . Although several attempts have been made to restore and re-air the film , all access has been denied . |
In 1955 , he was made an honorary member of the Order of Merit ( OM ) by Elizabeth II | Queen Elizabeth II . |
Schweitzer died on 4 September 1965 at his beloved hospital in Lambaréné , now in independent Gabon . His grave , on the banks of the Ogooué River , is marked by a cross he made himself . |
His cousin Anne-Marie Schweitzer Sartre was the mother of Jean-Paul Sartre . Her father , Charles Schweitzer , was the older brother of Albert Schweitzer 's father , Louis Théophile . |
Schweitzer was a vegetarian . An account written by Edgar Berman suggests that Schweitzer consumed fried Liver ( food ) | liver at a Sunday dinner in Lambaréné . " In Africa With Schweitzer " , ( New York : Harper & amp ; Row Publishers , 1986 ) , page 165 . |
The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship was founded in 1940 by Schweitzer to unite US supporters in filling the gap in support for his Hospital when his European supply lines were cut off by war , and continues to support the Lambaréné Hospital today . Schweitzer considered his ethic of Reverence for Life , not his hospital , his most important legacy , saying that his Lambaréné Hospital was just " my own improvisation on the theme of Reverence for Life . Everyone can have their own Lambaréné . " Today ASF helps large numbers of young Americans in health-related professional fields find or create " their own Lambaréné " in the US or internationally . ASF selects and supports nearly 250 new US and Africa Schweitzer Fellows each year from over 100 of the leading US schools of medicine , nursing , public health , and every other field with some relation to health ( including music , law , and divinity ) . The peer-supporting lifelong network of " Schweitzer Fellows for Life " numbered over 2,000 members in 2008 , and is growing by nearly 1,000 every four years . Nearly 150 of these Schweitzer Fellows have served at the Hospital in Lambaréné , for three-month periods during their last year of medical school . |
The prize was first awarded on 29 May 2011 to Eugen Drewermann and the physician couple Rolf and Raphaela Maibach in Königsfeld im Schwarzwald , where Schweitzer 's former residence now houses the Albert Schweitzer Museum . |
Recordings of Schweitzer playing the music of Bach are available on CD . During 1934 and 1935 he resided in Britain , delivering the Gifford Lectures at Edinburgh University , and those on " Religion in Modern Civilization " at University of Oxford | Oxford and University of London | London . He had originally conducted trials for recordings for HMV on the organ of the old Queen 's Hall in London . These records did not satisfy him , the instrument being too harsh . In mid-December 1935 he began to record for Columbia Records on the organ of All Hallows-by-the-Tower | All Hallows , Barking-by-the-Tower , London.This 1909 Harrison and Harrison organ was destroyed in the war ( cf W. Kent , The Lost Treasures of London ( Phoenix House 1947 ) , 94-95 ) and rebuilt in 1957 , see |
Altogether his early Columbia discs included 25 records of Bach and eight of César Franck . The Bach titles were mainly distributed as follows : |
Later recordings were made at Parish church , Günsbach : These recordings were made by C. Robert Fine during the time Dr. Schweitzer was being filmed in Günsbach for the documentary " Albert Schweitzer . " Fine originally self-released the recordings but later licensed the masters to Columbia . |
The above were released in the United States as Columbia Masterworks boxed set SL-175 . |
Dramatisations of Schweitzer 's life include : |
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Ibn Sina ( |
His most famous works are " The Book of Healing " , a philosophical and scientific encyclopedia , and " The Canon of Medicine " , a medical encyclopedia |
Besides philosophy and medicine , Avicenna 's corpus includes writings on Astronomy in medieval Islam | astronomy , Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam | alchemy , Geography and cartography in medieval Islam | geography and geology , Psychology in medieval Islam | psychology , Islamic theology , Logic in Islamic philosophy | logic , Mathematics in medieval Islam | mathematics , Physics in medieval Islam | physics and works of Islamic poetry | poetry . |
" ) . |
Ibn Sina created an extensive corpus of works during what is commonly known as the Islamic Golden Age , in which the translations of Greco-Roman , Persia n , and India n texts were studied extensively . Greco-Roman ( Middle Platonism | Mid- and Neoplatonism | Neo-Platonic , and Aristotelianism | Aristotelian ) texts translated by the Al-Kindi | Kindi school were commented , redacted and developed substantially by Islamic intellectuals , who also built upon Persian and Indian mathematics | Indian mathematical systems , Indian astronomy | astronomy , algebra , trigonometry and Ancient Iranian Medicine | medicine . There , the study of the Quran and the Hadith thrived . Philosophy , Fiqh and theology ( kalaam ) were further developed , most noticeably by Avicenna and his opponents . Al-Razi and Al-Farabi had provided methodology and knowledge in medicine and philosophy . Avicenna had access to the great libraries of Balkh , Khwarezm , Gorgan , Ray , Iran | Rey , Isfahan and Hamadan . Various texts ( such as the ' Ahd with Bahmanyar ) show that he debated philosophical points with the greatest scholars of the time . Aruzi Samarqandi describes how before Avicenna left Khwarezm he had met Al-Biruni ( a famous scientist and astronomer ) , Abu Nasr Mansur | Abu Nasr Iraqi ( a renowned mathematician ) , Abu Sahl Masihi ( a respected philosopher ) and Abu al-Khayr Khammar ( a great physician ) . |
Avicenna was born It was an important town of the Samanid Empire , in what is today Balkh Province , Afghanistan . |
According to his autobiography , Avicenna had Hafiz ( Quran ) | memorised the entire Quran by the age of 10 . |
As a teenager , he was greatly troubled by the " Metaphysics ( Aristotle ) | Metaphysics " of Aristotle , which he could not understand until he read al-Farabi ' s commentary on the work . |
He turned to medicine at 16 , and not only learned medical theory , but also by gratuitous attendance of the sick had , according to his own account , discovered new methods of treatment. and found that " Medicine is no hard and thorny science , like mathematics and metaphysics , so I soon made great progress ; I became an excellent doctor and began to treat patients , using approved remedies . " The youthful physician 's fame spread quickly , and he treated many patients without asking for payment . |
A number of theories have been proposed regarding Avicenna 's madhab ( school of thought within Islamic jurisprudence ) . Medieval historian Ẓahīr al-dīn al-Bayhaqī ( d . 1169 ) considered Avicenna to be a follower of the Brethren of Purity . |
Avicenna 's first appointment was that of physician to the emir , Nuh II , who owed him his recovery from a dangerous illness ( 997 ) . Ibn Sina 's chief reward for this service was access to the royal library of the Samanids , well-known patrons of scholarship and scholars . When the library was destroyed by fire not long after , the enemies of Ibn Sina accused him of burning it , in order for ever to conceal the sources of his knowledge . Meanwhile , he assisted his father in his financial labors , but still found time to write some of his earliest works . |
At 22 years old , Avicenna lost his father . The Samanid dynasty came to its end in December 1004 . Avicenna seems to have declined the offers of Mahmud of Ghazni , and proceeded westwards to Konye-Urgench | Urgench in modern Turkmenistan , where the vizier , regarded as a friend of scholars , gave him a small monthly stipend . The pay was small , however , so Ibn Sina wandered from place to place through the districts of Nishapur and Merv to the borders of Greater Khorasan | Khorasan , seeking an opening for his talents . Qabus , the generous ruler of Tabaristan , himself a poet and a scholar , with whom Ibn Sina had expected to find asylum , was on about that date ( 1012 ) starved to death by his troops who had revolted . Avicenna himself was at this time stricken by a severe illness . Finally , at Gorgan , near the Caspian Sea , Avicenna met with a friend , who bought a dwelling near his own house in which Avicenna lectured on logic and astronomy . Several of his treatises were written for this patron ; and the commencement of his " Canon of Medicine " also dates from his stay in Hyrcania . |
Avicenna subsequently settled at Rey , Iran | Rey , in the vicinity of modern Tehran , the home town of Al-Razi | Rhazes ; where Abu Taleb Rostam | Majd Addaula , a son of the last Buwayhid emir , was nominal ruler under the regency of his mother ( Seyyedeh Khatun ) . About thirty of Ibn Sina 's shorter works are said to have been composed in Rey . Constant feuds which raged between the regent and her second son , Shams al-Daula , however , compelled the scholar to quit the place . After a brief sojourn at Qazvin ( city ) | Qazvin he passed southwards to Hamadãn where Shams al-Daula , another Buwayhid emir , had established himself . At first , Ibn Sina entered into the service of a high-born lady ; but the emir , hearing of his arrival , called him in as medical attendant , and sent him back with presents to his dwelling . Ibn Sina was even raised to the office of vizier . The emir decreed that he should be banished from the country . Ibn Sina , however , remained hidden for forty days in sheikh Ahmed Fadhel 's house , until a fresh attack of illness induced the emir to restore him to his post . Even during this perturbed time , Ibn Sina persevered with his studies and teaching . Every evening , extracts from his great works , the " Canon " and the " Sanatio " , were dictated and explained to his pupils . On the death of the emir , Ibn Sina ceased to be vizier and hid himself in the house of an apothecary , where , with intense assiduity , he continued the composition of his works . |
Meanwhile , he had written to Abu Ya 'far , the prefect of the dynamic city of Isfahan , offering his services . The new emir of Hamadan , hearing of this correspondence and discovering where Ibn Sina was hiding , incarcerated him in a fortress . War meanwhile continued between the rulers of Isfahan and Hamadãn ; in 1024 the former captured Hamadan and its towns , expelling the Tajik mercenaries . When the storm had passed , Ibn Sina returned with the emir to Hamadan , and carried on his literary labors . Later , however , accompanied by his brother , a favorite pupil , and two slaves , Ibn Sina escaped from the city in the dress of a Sufi ascetic . After a perilous journey , they reached Isfahan , receiving an honorable welcome from the prince . |
The remaining ten or twelve years of Ibn Sīnā 's life were spent in the service of the Kakuyid ruler Muhammad ibn Rustam Dushmanziyar ( also known as Ala al-Dawla ) , whom he accompanied as physician and general literary and scientific adviser , even in his numerous campaigns . |
During these years he began to study literary matters and philology , instigated , it is asserted , by criticisms on his style . A severe colic , which seized him on the march of the army against Hamadan , was checked by remedies so violent that Ibn Sina could scarcely stand . On a similar occasion the disease returned ; with difficulty he reached Hamadan , where , finding the disease gaining ground , he refused to keep up the regimen imposed , and resigned himself to his fate . |
His friends advised him to slow down and take life moderately . He refused , however , stating that : " " I prefer a short life with width to a narrow one with length " " . |
Ibn Sīnā wrote extensively on early Islamic philosophy , especially the subjects logic , ethics , and metaphysics , including treatises named " Logic " and " Metaphysics " . Most of his works were written in Arabic language | Arabic - then the language of science in the Middle East - and some in Persian language | Persian . Of linguistic significance even to this day are a few books that he wrote in nearly pure Persian language ( particularly the Danishnamah-yi ' Ala ' , Philosophy for Ala ' ad-Dawla ' ) . Ibn Sīnā 's commentaries on Aristotle often criticized the philosopher , encouraging a lively debate in the spirit of ijtihad . |
Avicenna 's Platonism in Islamic Philosophy | Neoplatonic scheme of " emanations " became fundamental in the " Kalam " ( school of theological discourse ) in the 12th century.Nahyan A.G. Fancy ( 2006 ) , pp. 80-81 , " Pulmonary Transit and Bodily Resurrection : The Interaction of Medicine , Philosophy and Religion in the Works of Ibn al-Nafīs ( d . 1288 ) , " " Electronic Theses and Dissertations " , |
His " Book of Healing " became available in Europe in partial Latin translation some fifty years after its composition , under the title " Sufficientia " , and some authors have identified a " Latin Avicennism " as flourishing for some time , paralleling the more influential Latin Averroism , but suppressed by the Condemnations of 1210-1277 | Parisian decrees of 1210 and 1215 . ! --there is apparently a whole body of scholarly controversy behind this , and you shouldn 't just drop this stuff in passing as if it were factual . Google " Latin Avicennism " and you get material for a giant and involved article in its own right-- |
c.f. e.g . |
Henry Corbin , " History of Islamic Philosophy " , Routledge , 2014 , . |
Henry Corbin , " Avicenna and the Visionary Recital " , Princeton University Press , 2014 , . |
Avicenna 's psychology and theory of knowledge influenced William of Auvergne , Bishop of Paris |
Early Islamic philosophy and Islamic metaphysics , imbued as it is with Kalam | Islamic theology , distinguishes more clearly than Aristotelianism between essence and existence . Whereas existence is the domain of the contingent and the accidental , essence endures within a being beyond the accidental . The philosophy of Ibn Sīnā , particularly that part relating to metaphysics , owes much to al-Farabi . The search for a definitive Islamic philosophy separate from Occasionalism can be seen in what is left of his work . |
Following al-Farabi 's lead , Avicenna initiated a full-fledged inquiry into the question of being , in which he distinguished between essence ( " Mahiat " ) and existence ( " Wujud " ) . He argued that the fact of existence cannot be inferred from or accounted for by the essence of existing things , and that form and matter by themselves cannot interact and originate the movement of the universe or the progressive actualization of existing things . Existence must , therefore , be due to an Causality | agent-cause that necessitates , imparts , gives , or adds existence to an essence . To do so , the cause must be an existing thing and coexist with its effect . |
Avicenna 's consideration of the essence-attributes question may be elucidated in terms of his ontological analysis of the modalities of being ; namely impossibility , contingency , and necessity . Avicenna argued that the impossible being is that which cannot exist , while the contingent in itself ( " mumkin bi-dhatihi " ) has the potentiality to be or not to be without entailing a contradiction . When actualized , the contingent becomes a ' necessary existent due to what is other than itself ' ( " wajib al-wujud bi-ghayrihi " ) . Thus , contingency-in-itself is potential beingness that could eventually be actualized by an external cause other than itself . The metaphysical structures of necessity and contingency are different . Necessary being due to itself ( " wajib al-wujud bi-dhatihi " ) is true in itself , while the contingent being is ' false in itself ' and ' true due to something else other than itself ' . The necessary is the source of its own being without borrowed existence . It is what always exists.Avicenna , " Kitab al-shifa ' , Metaphysics II " , ( eds . ) G.C. Anawati , Ibrahim Madkour , Sa 'id Zayed ( Cairo , 1975 ) , p . 36 Nader El-Bizri , " Avicenna and Essentialism , " " Review of Metaphysics " , Vol . 54 ( 2001 ) , pp. 753-778 |
The Necessary exists ' due-to-Its-Self ' , and has no quiddity / essence ( " mahiyya " ) other than existence ( " wujud " ) . Furthermore , It is ' One ' ( " wahid ahad " ) Avicenna , " Metaphysica of Avicenna " , trans . Parviz Morewedge ( New York , 1973 ) , p . 43. since there cannot be more than one ' Necessary-Existent-due-to-Itself ' without differentia ( fasl ) to distinguish them from each other . Yet , to require differentia entails that they exist ' due-to-themselves ' as well as ' due to what is other than themselves ' ; and this is contradictory . However , if no differentia distinguishes them from each other , then there is no sense in which these ' Existents ' are not one and the same . |