But I also put into this book my conviction that mankind must renew itself in a new temper of mind, if it is not to be ruined. I entrust to it, further, my belief that this revolution will come about, if only we can make up our minds to become thinking men. A new Renaissance must come, and a much greater one than that in which we stepped out of the Middle Ages; a great Renaissance in which mankind discovers that the ethical is the highest truth and the highest practicality, and experiences at the same time its liberation from that miserable obsession by what it calls reality, in which it has hitherto dragged itself along. I would be a humble pioneer of this Renaissance, and throw the belief in a new humanity, like a torch, into our dark age. I make bold to do this because I believe I have given to the disposition to humanity, which hitherto has ranked only as a noble feeling, a firm foundation in a world-view which is a product of elementary thinking and can be made intelligible to everyone. Moreover, it has gained thereby a power of attracting and convincing which it has not had hitherto; and is capable now of coming to terms in energetic and consistent fashion with our so-called reality, and of proving its full value within it. ALBERT SCHWEITZER. _July_, 1923. The two instalments of my Philosophy of Civilization which are now ready—_The Decay and Restoration of [pg xx] Civilization_ and _Civilization and Ethics_—will be followed by two others. In the next, which will be entitled _The World-view of Reverence for Life_, I elaborate this world-view, which so far I have only sketched for a conclusion to my discussion of the search for a world-view, as carried on down to the present day. The fourth and last will treat of the Civilized State. * * * * * The translator offers his thanks to Mrs. C. E. B. Russell, now helping at Lambarene, who kindly reviewed the whole work before it went to the printers. Many of her criticisms and suggestions were adopted, and have helped to secure a better translation. CONTENTS I. THE CRISIS IN CIVILIZATION AND ITS SPIRITUAL CAUSE [I] The material and spiritual elements in civilization [I] Civilization and world-view [6] II. THE PROBLEM OF THE OPTIMISTIC WORLD-VIEW [11] The Western and the Indian conceptions of civilization[11] The struggle for the optimistic world-view [12] Optimism and pessimism [14] Optimism, pessimism, and ethics [17] III. THE ETHICAL PROBLEM [19] The difficulties of ethical perception [19] The importance of thought about ethics [21] The search for a basic principle of morality [22] Religious and philosophical ethics [24] IV. RELIGIOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL WORLD-VIEWS [27] The world-views of the world-religions [27] The world-views of the world religions and that of Western thought [29] V. CIVILIZATION AND ETHICS IN THE GRÆCO-ROMAN PHILOSOPHY [32]