Your complimentary articles

You’ve read all of your complimentary articles for this month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please

SUBSCRIBE NOW

If you are a subscriber please sign in to your account.

To buy or renew a subscription please visit Subscriptions.

If you are a print subscriber you can contact us to create an online account.

Brief Lives

Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)

Colin Mackenzie surveys the full life of a philanthropic philosopher.

Albert Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952 for his humanitarian work as a medical missionary in Gabon, Africa. The impulses which led him to a life of service gradually evolved into his philosophy of ‘Reverence for Life’. Here I want to show some brief reverence for Schweitzer’s own life.

A Life Begins

Albert Schweitzer was born on 14th January 1875 in the small village of Kaysersberg in Upper Alsace, North Eastern France. Not long after his birth, the family moved to Gunsbach in the Munster valley, which now houses the headquarters of the Albert Schweitzer Association.

…