Ethics ratings and subsets for every nation: Switzerland
Moral Contours
Historical figures
Greatly influential Protestant theologian, seared by his experience as a pastor during World War 1. The affirmative association of many of his Christian mentors with the Kaiser’s military cause led him to question the ease with which their faith had been ‘captured’ by the liberality of modern culture rather than the radical call of revelation and the ‘otherness’ of God. His multi-volume, 9000+ pages, Church Dogmatics drawing on centuries of previous writings is a magisterial restatement of what he set out as a proper Christian orthodoxy. His footnotes in themselves are major studies of other thinkers including ones outside the Christian faith, eg Ludwig Feuerbach. He was a leader in the German church struggle against Nazism, drafting 1934 Barmen Declaration. He expounds ethics as response to divine command, but sensitive to local circumstance. He was passionate about Mozart and was very knowledgeable about military history.
Life
Writings
A summary of Barth's major works
The Karl Barth Reading Room guide to resources
Video
Karl Barth on Revelation (German with English subtitles) (2 mins)
Eminent physicist, known pre-eminently for his theory of relativity. Relocated to USA from Berlin in 1934 because of Nazi threat to his Jewishness. Warned President Roosevelt regarding possibility of German development of atom bomb and post-war hugely involved in pressing for control of atomic weaponry.
Life
The Nobel Prize biography of Einstein with links to his prize lecture and other resources
Einstein's life and contributions to science
'Einstein for Everyone' by John D Norton
Writings
Some writings on religion and morals
Video
Archive film of Einstein (6 mins)
Poet and writer whose novels explore the challenge for any individual in building an integrated personal identity - a fully harmonious self. Self-realisation was a priority encouraged by his engagement with Jungian ‘individuation’ and subsequent exposure to eastern mystical traditions especially in Indian and Chinese Philosophy. He pursues the theme of search for selfhood in relation to such experiences as monastic calling, incest, and yen for utopia.
Life
Works
Video
Eminent psychiatrist who developed comprehensive theories of the human personality, including different generic types and components and the notion of the collective unconscious. The types were introversion and extroversion, plus the four functioning properties of thinking and feeling (the rational pair) and of sensation and intuition (the irrational pair). He disagreed with Freud regarding the determinative influence of libidinal/sexual drives, instead emphasising the importance of spiritual/meaning energies. Moral and religious maturity is the outcome of the process of individuation wherein a person makes sense of their inherited given-ness in their current living context.
Life
Writings
Video
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi was a teacher with a mission to educate the poor and neglected. Influenced by the thinking of Rousseau and a personal sense of Christian care. In a succession of different schools, mainly elementary but subsequently secondary, he implemented a way of working with children which sought to engage their interest as a prerequisite for effective learning – heart led then head and actively hands-on.
Life
Writings
Hugely influential researcher into the development of children’s intelligence. From an initial background in Zoology (his first paper in an academic journal at the age of ten was on the sparrow) he moved to Psychology, becoming the leading international exponent of psychogenetically sequenced stages of cognitive development. Much of his research was carried out with his own children and those in his school in Geneva – but replicated by others throughout the world. His work on moral development included the now familiar egocentricity-heteronomy-autonomy sequence. Over intellectualised readings of his work miss the importance he attributed to play and symbol and their relevance for moral sense.
Life
Writings
Video
Ulrich Zwingli was a Christian who is grouped alongside Calvin and Luther as a leading initiator of the Protestant Reformation. He drew on scholarship in biblical languages, historical theology and philosophy, experience as a military chaplain, and association with a pilgrimage centre – together these led him to challenge many traditional beliefs as superstitious and self-serving. It is individual experience which is the proper test of truth claims in ethics and religion.
Life
Writings