Addams Motivations

I think Jane Addams first associates the opportunity of living among the poor, with the chance to practices medicine. This was the first concrete example of the idea of social by Addams. The motivations in Addams life for doing the social work could be traced to various causes, such as her father and his interaction with Abe Lincoln. The question though, is what- if any- is the spiritual content of Jane Addam's work. Obviously there had to be some spiritual motivation because Addams was raised as a Quaker. She mentions that the school she attended turned out many missionaries, however i am not 100% sure it means missionaries in a religious sense, but rather in another sort of way.

Religion was an under-the-surface type of motivation for Addams. There were other reasons for her work. She was an idealist, as shown by the aper she wrote in college, and it seems that reducing poverty would be an idealist action. her philosophical view of the world was a great motivator, and this view was influenced by religion.

It seems the she speaks poorly of those who thought of her Settlement as a way to spread religious ideas. In London, and all over she saw poverty, and felt she had to help. There was no direct religious motivation that i could see, but rather in indirect motivation, based upon how her religious background shaped Jane Addams.