Abstract
Up to this point, I have explored the dominant tradition regarding Christianity and nonhuman animals and strands of tradition that either break from that tradition or contain a framework conducive to breaking from it. Here I want to highlight how alternative traditions open fresh possibilities for interreligious dialogue. To do so, I examine the basis for animal welfare in the works of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Albert Schweitzer. For Gandhi, the principle of ahimsa (nonviolence) forms the foundation for extending moral concern to nonhuman animals. For Schweitzer, the principle of reverence for life does so. In what follows, I compare how these two principles function in the thought of Gandhi and Schweitzer with regard to their background and development, the different forms of life to which they apply, their ethical ramifications for human/nonhuman relationships, and the limitations of their application.
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Notes
R. Huntington (2002), “Jainism and Ethics,” in M. Meyer and K. Bergel (eds), Reverence for Life: The Ethics of Albert Schweitzer for the Twenty-First Century (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press), p. 197.
M. K. Gandhi (1959), An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with the Truth, translated by M. Desai (Ahmedabad: Navajivan), p. 11.
See L. Fischer (1983), The Life of Mahatma Gandhi (New York: Harper and Row), p. 21.
See R. Johnson (2006), “From Childhood to Satyagrahi,” in R. L. Johnson (ed.), Gandhi’s Experiments with Truth: Essential Writings by and about Mahatma Gandhi (New York: Lexington Books), p. 4.
M. K. Gandhi (1999), The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (hereafter CWMG), 98 vols. (New Delhi: Publications Division, Government of India), 1:206
See, for example, his views on racism, women’s rights, and liberation in general. M. K. Gandhi (1962), The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas, L. Fischer (ed.) (New York: Vintage), pp. 171
See Fischer, The Life of Mahatma Gandhi, pp. 20–21; M. Chatterjee (1986), Gandhi’s Religious Thought (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press), pp. 21–23.
M. Juergensmeyer (1984), Fighting with Gandhi (San Francisco: Harper and Row), p. 3.
R. Johnson (2006), “Satyagraha: The Only Way to Stop Terrorism,” in R. L. Johnson (ed.), Gandhi’s Experiments with Truth: Essential Writings by and about Mahatma Gandhi (New York: Lexington Books), pp. 228–236.
For example, in the short work, Gandhi on Non-Violence, Thomas Merton includes what he takes to be the main points of Gandhi’s Non-Violence in Peace and War. The only text regarding nonviolence and nonhuman animals that Merton includes in his compendium is one in which Gandhi claims killing animals that are harmful to humans is pardonable. See T. Merton (ed., 1964), Gandhi on Non-Violence: Selected Texts from Mohandas K. Gandhi’s Non-Violence in Peace and War (New York: New Directions), p. 87.
Anthony Parel (2006) follows a similar path in Gandhi’s Philosophy and the Quest for Harmony (New York: Cambridge University Press), p. 123.
M. K. Gandhi (1972), Non-Violence in Peace and War (New York: Garland), pp. 65–72.
However, even in Hind Swaraj, Gandhi makes known the importance of cow protection, which for him extends to all animals. See M. K. Gandhi (1997), Hind Swaraj and Other Writings, L. Fischer (ed.) (New York: Cambridge University Press), p. 55.
Herein one sees an influence from Jainism. Perfect ahimsa is impossible outside of attaining the Hindu equivalent of moksa. See R. Huntington (2002), “Jainism and Ethics,” in M. Meyer and K. Bergel (eds.), Reverence for Life: The Ethics of Albert Schweitzer for the Twenty-First Century (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press), p. 195.
Gandhi sees perfection as attainable for individual humans. See J. Brown (2006), “Gandhi and Human Rights: In Search of True Humanity,” in R. L. Johnson (ed.), Gandhi’s Experiments with Truth: Essential Writings by and about Mahatma Gandhi (New York: Lexington Books), p. 241.
A. Schweitzer (1998), Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography, translated by A. B. Lemke (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press), pp. 1–14.
On Schweitzer’s context, see J. Brabazon (2000), Albert Schweitzer: A Biography (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press), p. 2.
See T. Kiernan (ed., 1965), Reverence for Life: An Anthology of Selected Writings (New York: Philosophical Library), p. 1.
See M. Meyer (2002), “Affirming Reverence for Life,” in M. Meyer and K. Bergel (eds.), Reverence for Life: The Ethics of Albert Schweitzer for the Twenty-First Century (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press), p. 30.
A. Schweitzer (1936), Indian Thought and Its Development, translated by Mrs. C. E. B. Russell (Gloucester, MA: Beacon Press), pp. 82–83.
A. Schweitzer (1966), My Life and Thought: An Autobiography, translated by C. T. Campion (London: Unwin Books), p. 131.
A. Schweitzer (2002), “First Sermon on Reverence for Life,” in M. Meyer and K. Bergel (eds.), Reverence for Life: The Ethics of Albert Schweitzer for the Twenty-First Century (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press), p. 67.
A. Schweitzer (1955), The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle, translated by W. Montgomery (London: A. & C. Black), p. 379.
A. P. Barsam (2008), Reverence for Life: Albert Schweitzer’s Great Contribution to Ethical Thought (New York: Oxford University Press), p. 24.
A. Schweitzer (1946), Civilization and Ethics, translated by C. T. Campion (London: A. & C. Black), p. 242.
A. Schweitzer (1965), The Teaching of Reverence for Life, translated by R. and C. Winston (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston), p. 49.
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© 2014 Ryan Patrick McLaughlin
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McLaughlin, R.P. (2014). Alternative Traditions and Interreligious Dialogue. In: Christian Theology and the Status of Animals. The Palgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137344588_9
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