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Albany, NY – In today's Academic Minute, Dr. A.G. Rud of Washington State University examines the philosophy behind the well-known, and not so well-known, actions of Albert Schweitzer.
A.G. Rud is Dean of the College of Education at Washington State University where his research focuses on the cultural foundations of education, with an emphasis on the moral dimensions of teacher education. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Northwestern University. In 2011 he published, Albert Schweitzer's Legacy for Education: Reverence for Life.
Dr. A.G. Rud - The Philosophy of Albert Schweitzer
If people know about Albert Schweitzer at all, they picture him as a kindly, white-haired doctor in a pith helmet who worked in the African jungle. They may have heard that he won the Nobel Peace Prize. They probably don't know that he did something very radical. At age 30, he left a comfortable life as a European pastor, scholar and musician. He became a physician and established a hospital in West Africa - where conditions were so harsh, his wife could not stay with him.
Schweitzer's famous hospital in Lambar n Gabon still exists, but he only saw it as what he called an "improvisation," that is, an example for others, but not something meant to be copied. Schweitzer's hospital was more like a community, and those who came to be treated brought family members and cooked their own food. The hospital itself was criticized by some in his time as being backward and unsanitary, and Schweitzer was attacked for perceived negligence. But the point Schweitzer sought to make was through his devotion to service to others.
I also explore how Schweitzer promoted an attitude that he called "reverence for life." The phrase encompasses not only respect, but also a sense of awe and a deep understanding of nature and human beings.
I develop an idea based on Schweitzer's reverence for life that I call "practical reverence" in education. Schweitzer reminds us that it is impossible to know anyone fully or completely. There is always more to learn about a person one encounters. One of the prime ways of exhibiting practical reverence in education is for teachers to just listen to their individual students. Careful listening enables the teacher to learn how to best teach that individual student.
Schweitzer said often, "The school will be the way" where many others could appreciate his philosophy of reverence for life, and show it in practical ways that affect how we teach and how we learn.