An anthology of Schweitzer's writings on spiritual and moral matters.

Western and Indian thought -- The historical Jesus -- The kingdom of God -- Religion in modern civilization -- The decay of civilization -- Civilization and ethics -- The optimistic world-view in Kant -- Schopenhauer and Nietzsche's quest for elementary ethics -- Reverence for life -- The ethics of reverence for life -- The problem of ethics in the evolution of human thought -- Bach and aesthetics -- Goethe the philosopher -- Gandhi and the force of nonviolence -- The problem (...) of peace in the world today -- My life is my argument. (shrink)

Independent of his international renown as a humanitarian, Albert Schweitzer is well known as a great musicologist; a reputation that rests largely upon this book. Schweitzer's \"J. S. Bach\" is one of the great full-length studies of the composer, his life, and his work. Its influence on the subsequent performace of Bach's music was enormous, and there is scarcely a later work on Bach which does not acknowledge a deep debt to Schweitzer's. Grove's Dictionary says of the (...) book, \"Schweitzer has probably been more quoted than any authority since Spitta.\". (shrink)

An anthology of the philosophical writings by one of the finest humanitarians and thinkers of the twentieth century includes essays on nature, the mystery of life, the will to live, respect for life, and the work of such artists as Bach and Goethe.

A growing literature has focused on understanding how to detect and deter unethical consumer behavior. In this work, we focus on a particularly important type of unethical consumer behavior, consumer insurance fraud, and we analyze a unique dataset to understand how experts investigate suspicious claims. Two separate but related literatures inform the process of investigating suspicious insurance claims. The first literature is grounded in field research and emphasizes the importance of secondary sources. The second literature is grounded in laboratory studies (...) that emphasize the importance of interpersonal interactions. Here we draw upon both literatures to consider the importance of claimant interviews within the context of many investigative actions and the potential for claimants to avoid interviews. In an empirical study using qualitative and quantitative data from auto insurance claim investigations, we analyze investigative chronologies conducted by skilled experts. In doing so, we find that even when investigators can access information from a variety of sources such as witnesses, databases, and physical evidence, claimant interviews are the most important step in determining whether or not claims are denied or paid. Furthermore, we identify interpersonal avoidance as an important signal of unethical claimant behavior. Our findings inform deception detection theory and practice. We identify implications for deception detection in business, particularly for consumer unethical behavior and insurance fraud investigations. (shrink)

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Diese philosophische, interdisziplinäre Studie untersucht, auf welche Weise Fehlfunktionen einen einzigartigen Zugang zu Daten für Entdeckung und Prüfung von Theorien in vielen Wissenschaften bieten. Anhand von Beispielen aus Biologie, Evolution, Linguistik, Kognitionswissenschaft und anderen arbeitet sie die Funktionsweise wissenschaftlicher Methoden heraus, die versuchen, aus der Analyse von Fehlfunktionen Erkenntnisse über normale Struktur und Funktion zu gewinnen. Sie identifiziert die allgemeinen Merkmale, Ziele und Ergebnisse der Methoden und untersucht ihre Beziehungen zu konventionellen Strategien der Entdeckung und des Testens, etwa kausale und (...) mechanistische Analyseverfahren. (shrink)

“Error Analysis”: The Methodology of Learning from an Object’s Errors, Deficits, and Malfunctions.

The publication presents research results on a multitude of knowledge exchange processes in post-enlightenment Europe. These focus on the question in how far deeply rooted processes of knowledge exchange by transnational intellectual discourses and international expert communities have contributed to a variety of networks of European intellectual identities and research practices. These practices again constitute a fertile framework for de-territorialised and de-nationalised exchange of knowledge that might contribute to contagious processes of emancipation, cooperation as well as problem solving.

Round to elongate microbodies associated with fossil vertebrate soft tissues were interpreted as microbial traces until 2008, when they were re‐described as remnant melanosomes – intracellular, pigment‐containing eukaryotic organelles. Since then, multiple claims for melanosome preservation and inferences of organismal color, behavior, and physiology have been advanced, based upon the shape and size of these microstructures. Here, we re‐examine evidence for ancient melanosomes in light of information reviewed in Vinther (2015), and literature regarding the preservation potential of microorganisms and their (...) exopolymeric secretions. We: (i) address statements in Vinther's recent (2015) review that are incorrect or which misrepresent published data; (ii) discuss the need for caution in interpreting “voids” and microbodies associated with degraded fossil soft tissues; (iii) present evidence that microorganisms are in many cases an equally parsimonious source for these “voids” as are remnant melanosomes; and (iv) suggest methods/criteria for differentiating melanosomes from microbial traces in the fossil record. (shrink)

We regard this article as a plea for the modular design of a practice-related discipline of business ethics, in which we analyse under what conditions economic decisions and actions in firms – regardless of their content – are to be understood as morally right. Following the clarification of certain fundamentals of the ethical substantiation of economic decisions, we describe a system of modules as the epistemological frame of reference that designs the formal analysis. We examine in detail the contribution of (...) the descriptive module (as a conception of representation), the theoretical module (as a conception of explanation and prediction), the pragmatic module (as a conception of designing) and the normative module (as a conception of value-judgment) to the ethical substantiation of economic decisions and actions. As a conclusion of the formal analysis, we show that the ideal of the virtuous merchant as a basis of the ethics of conviction for the substantiation of economic decisions offers, at best, an imperfect solution. Following this, we give reasons why a practice-related discipline of business ethics as ethics of responsibility for the substantiation of economic decisions is particularly efficient. The main reason for this lies in the fact that this discipline integrates relevant insights (statements) from the descriptive, theoretical, pragmatic and normative modules into a self-contained system of statements. We ensure the systematic complementation of business administration by the discipline of business ethics by relating the statements of both systems to the same decisions concerning scarce goods that form the subject of business administration, and close factual and methodical relations between the two systems. (shrink)

This article discusses the need for researching non-formal religious education as a neglected field of empirical research in religious education. By describing the growing awareness of the theological and educational meaning and importance of non-formal education and by reviewing the literature on research in religious education which appears to be focused somewhat one-sidedly on the formal context of the school and of the school subject of Religious Education, the author creates a background for the presentation of current research on confirmation (...) work in Europe. The author gives an overview on a more than 10-year-long project on confirmation work in nine European countries, with an emphasis on the research design, methods, and main results. The experiences from this project are then discussed from the perspective of research on non-formal religious education. Finally, the author considers implications of this research for religious education and practical theology in general. (shrink)

The selections contained in this volume were made by Richard Kik. The original edition Vom Licht in uns was published by Verlag J.F. Steinkopf, Stuhgart. It contains sayings of things highly spiritual nature as well as a description of the life of Richard Kik. One such selection is The beginning of all spiritual life is fearless belief in truth and its open confession. Albert Schweitzer (14 January 1875 4 September 1965) was a German-French theologian, musician, philosopher, and physician. He (...) was born in Kaysersberg in the province of Elsass-Lothringen (Alsace-Lorraine), at the time in the German Empire. Schweitzer challenged both the secular view of Jesus as depicted by historical-critical methodology current at his time in certain academic circles, as well the traditional Christian view, depicting a Jesus Christ who expected and predicted the imminent end of the world. He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize in 1953 for his philosophy of "Reverence for Life" expressed in many ways, but most famously in founding and sustaining the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambarene, now in Gabon, west central Africa (then French Equatorial Africa). As a music scholar and organist, he studied the music of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach and influenced the Organ reform movement (Orgelbewegung). Schweitzer's passionate quest was to discover a universal ethical philosophy, anchored in a universal reality, and make it directly available to all of humanity. This is reflected in some of his sayings, such as: "Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace." "I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.". (shrink)

The focus of this article is on international knowledge transfer in religious education as it has been proposed by a recent Manifesto in Europe. Readers are introduced to this Manifesto which also is the starting point of the article. The example of Germany and South Africa is used as a test case for the understanding of international knowledge transfer. The author analyses this understanding on the background of general considerations, among others, concerning unilateral and bilateral forms of transfer, but also (...) the meaning of empirical research in this context before he discusses three examples for German religious education learning from South Africa: human dignity, justice and reconciliation. In the final section of this article, the results of these discussions are connected with the question of what they imply for the understanding of international knowledge transfer in religious education. The author argues for a complex approach which entails a careful balance between the idea of sharing knowledge and doing justice to the contextual nature of research results in the field of religious education. (shrink)

In the evolving landscape of legal information systems, ChatGPT-4 and other advanced conversational agents (CAs) offer the potential to disruptively transform the law industry. This study evaluates commercially available CAs within the German legal context, thereby assessing the generalizability of previous U.S.-based findings. Employing a unique corpus of 200 distinct legal tasks, ChatGPT-4 was benchmarked against Google Bard, Google Gemini, and its predecessor, ChatGPT-3.5. Human-expert and automated assessments of 4000 CA-generated responses reveal ChatGPT-4 to be the first CA to surpass (...) the threshold of solving realistic legal tasks and passing a German business law exam. While ChatGPT-4 outperforms ChatGPT-3.5, Google Bard, and Google Gemini in both consistency and quality, the results demonstrate a considerable degree of variability, especially in complex cases with no predefined response options. Based on these findings, legal professionals should manually verify all texts produced by CAs before use. Novices must exercise caution with CA-generated legal advice, given the expertise needed for its assessment. (shrink)

It is proverbial that the European tradition of philosophy consists of a set of footnotes to Plato. However, one of his most informative works, the Atlantis story, had been totally neglected by the scientific community because for 2350 years it had simply not been understood. Plato wanted that only eligible persons shouldperceive his Atlantis story and therefore he codified it as an adventure tale. However, he placed a lot of ironical hints in his text. Anyhow, as irony isn’t everybody’s cup (...) of tea, nobody could follow him. Because of respect for Plato’s credibility; the Atlantologists tried to solve the Atlantis riddle as phenomenon, whereas just a simple analytic disquisition supported by lateral thinking had been requested. This is a challenge to prompt science to render account after 2350 years of the previous omission of the Atlantis theme and to start a serious discussion about the here presented analytic approach by lateral thinking to Plato’s Atlantis irony, which turns out to be his humorous metaphysical legacy. (shrink)

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain (...) in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant. (shrink)

In this article, we describe the influence of violations of community standards of fairness on subsequent ethical decision-making and emotions. Across two studies, we manipulated explanations for a common action, and we find that explanations that violate community standards of fairness lead to greater intentions to behave unethically than explanations that are consistent with community standards of fairness. We find that perceptions of justifiability mediate this relationship. We also find that individuals derive significant psychological benefits from engaging in unethical behavior (...) following perceived violations of fairness. (shrink)

"Though I was well aware that Albert Schweitzer preached a great deal both before and after he became a physician, I never encountered any of his sermons until ...

In this early yet masterful work by the philosopher ofReverence for Life, metaphysics and religion are examined using Kant s theology as a background. No one can put aside this small book without a feeling of respect for the profundity of the young Schweitzer. First English translation.