'The Will-to-Live Amidst the Universal Will-to-Live': Albert Schweitzer on the Connection Between Thinking and Culture

Abstract

This article analyzes Albert Schweitzer's concept of the philosophy of culture. Understanding culture as a movement towards perfection and progress, the philosopher notes differences in the manifestations of progress itself and its significance across cognitive, social, and internal (personal) spheres. Progress is not only a natural process but also a reflection of the prevailing mode of thinking that forms the basis of a worldview. A historical and philosophical research of society and an analysis of its crisis state leads to the conclusion that the spiritual component is fundamental — it provides an immediate understanding of life, defines ethical ideals, and determines the mode of interaction between humans and the world. The detachment of thinking, expressed in the exclusive cognition of the external world and a blinding by scientific and technological development, negatively impacts the system of social, political, economic, and personal relations, values, and the possibilities for realizing abilities — from individual to universal. The movement towards an integral culture is possible through a renewal of thinking, which Schweitzer defines as elementary. Based on the idea of reverence for life, it fosters personal self-improvement, as well as freedom and responsibility in decision-making. Its strengthening and dissemination are possible through practical and active participation, internal acceptance of the value of life, an ethical and humanistic sensibility, and the formation of a new type of relations.