Albert Schweitzer's ethic of reverence for life : analysis, defense and applications to the veterinary profession

As we approach the new millenium, the world faces tremendous problems in human efforts to rectify past and present abuses caused by the anthropocentric valuation and treatment of the non-human living creation. Albert Schweitzer's ethic of Reverence for Life, with its emphasis on the innate value of all living beings, the spirituality of human beings, and the personal responsibility which each human being has for the lives around him/her, thus becomes a relevant and contemporary philosophy of life. This paper provides an explication and analysis of Schweitzer's ethic, with particular emphasis on Schweitzer's use of reason/thought, and on the primacy of the knowledge of the internal will over external knowledge of the world. The ethic is explicated from its initial premise - that "I am life that wills to live in the midst of life that wills to live" - to its conclusion that we must revere all life, and actively aid all life within our sphere of influence in its pursuit of its own self-realization. The ethic's relevance is defended through current research in the fields of sociobiology, anthropology, and psychology. It is further assessed and defended against charges of subjectivity, lack of rules, and guilt-mongering. The ethic is then applied to the veterinary profession in terms of both animal welfare theory and specific applications to pet, wild, research, and food animals in contemporary western culture. Such application necessitates the acknowledgment and provision of species- specific interests to animals, as well as the acknowledgment that death itself is a harm. Radical changes in the way we value and treat animals in each of these categories are required if we adhere to Schweitzer's ethic of Reverence for Life. The feasibility of implementation of such an ethic is suggested to be difficult but not impossible. Such a gestalt shift in western moral thinking about animals may come about, however, not from the necessity of thought of Schweitzer's internal will-to-live, but from the necessity imposed externally on the human race to salvage the rest of creation if it wishes to salvage itself.