This essay explores how the principles of ahimsa and reverence for life provide a foundation for animal welfare in the thought of Mohandas Gandhi and Albert Schweitzer, respectively. This exploration unfolds through a consideration of the contextual background of both thinkers, the scope of life to which they apply their respective principles, and both the ethical ramifications and limitations of this application. Within this common framework, the author delineates the striking commonalities and the significant disparities between Gandhi and Schweitzer. This (...) comparison opens a common space within which ecologically-minded Hindus and Christians can dialogue, augmenting each other's positions by drawing on respected thinkers in their traditions. It also provides an opportunity, within the tensions highlighted at the intersection of Gandhi and Schweitzer's thought, to further construct a foundation for animal welfare in contemporary discussions. (shrink)

One of the still unsolved problems in liberal anarchism is a definition of social constituency in positive terms. Partially, this had been solved by the advancements of liberal discourse ethics. These approaches, built on praxeology as a universal framework for social formation, are detached from the need of any previous or external authority or rule for the discursive partners. However, the relationship between action, personal identity, and liberty within the process of a community becoming solely generated from the praxeological a (...) priori remains largely disputed. In order to develop a testable constitutional model, this study revises how the “ontological turn” was introduced into liberal theories and redefines the concept of liberty. Liberty is usually understood as a moral goal or measurement for just actions, as the generative principle of all social existence - individual and interpersonal. For this purpose, the function of performative contradiction within the mechanism of interpersonal “encounter”, as part of the co-generative process of the individual becoming and social formation was explored through the production of a game-based narrative historiography grounded on 19th century life writings. This narrative historiography was developed in the context of Swiss history, with a “design-based” research approach, and resulted in a prototype for networked storytelling through which the transformative learning process could be visible and the negotiation of competing individual visions of the future could be re-enacted. (shrink)

اخلاق حرمت حیات – پروردۀ آلبرت شوایستر – حامی صورت‌های مختلف حیات اعم از بشری و غیربشری است و بر حفظ و حرمت به حیات تاکید دارد. از سوی دیگر آرتور شوپنهاور معتقد به انکار حیات و کناره‌گیری از آن است. این مقاله به ربط و نسبت بین اخلاق حرمت حیات و اندیشه‌های شوپنهاور می-پردازد. از سویی حرمت حیات مبتنی بر ارادۀ معطوف به حیات و تاکید بر تجربه‌های انضمامی و جزیی است که نشان از مشابهت با و تاثیرپذیری از (...) مبانی متافیزیکی و روشی شوپنهاور دارد. اما از سوی دیگر آلبرت شوایتسر، مبدع اخلاق حرمت حیات، با تفسیری پویا از مفاهیم شوپنهاوریِ «ارادۀ معطوف به حیات» و «کنارگیری»، و تاکید بر «ارادۀ معطوف به محبت»، برخلاف شوپنهاور راه به تایید حیات و تاکید بر حفظ و حرمت حیات می‌برد. انگیزه‌های خاص الهیاتی او در این میان قابل مشاهده‌اند. بنابراین این دو اندیشمند در مبادی اخلاقی و اخلاق هنجاری و نیز در ابتنای زندگی و عمل خود بر نظریه‌های‌شان کاملا متفاوتند. از سویی تاثیر مبادی مسیحی شوایتسر بر اخلاق حرمت حیات و از سوی دیگر تاثیر پیشینۀ روانی شوپنهاور بر بدبینی او به جهان و در نتیجه انکارش در باب حیات مشهود است. (shrink)