Hermann Alexander Graf von Keyserling ( – 26 April 1946) was a
Baltic German philosopher from the
Keyserlingk family. His grandfather,
Alexander von Keyserling, was a notable geologist of
Imperial Russia
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...
.
Life
Keyserling was born to a wealthy aristocratic family in the
Könno Manor,
Kreis Pernau in
Governorate of Livonia,
Russian Empire, now in
Estonia. After his education at the universities of
Dorpat (Tartu),
Heidelberg, and
Vienna, he took a trip around the world. He married
Maria Goedela von Bismarck-Schönhausen
Maria may refer to:
People
* Mary, mother of Jesus
* Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages
Place names Extraterrestrial
*170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877
* Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...
, granddaughter of
Otto von Bismarck
Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of J ...
. His son
Arnold Keyserling followed his fathers footsteps and became a renowned philosopher.
Hermann Keyserling interested himself in
natural science
Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...
and in
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
, and before
World War I he was known both as a student of
geology and as a popular
essayist. The
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
deprived him of his estate in
Livonia, and with the remains of his fortune he founded the ''Gesellschaft für Freie Philosophie'' (Society for Free Philosophy) at
Darmstadt
Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...
. The mission of this school was to bring about the intellectual reorientation of Germany.
New International Encyclopedia
''The New International Encyclopedia'' was an American encyclopedia first published in 1902 by Dodd, Mead and Company. It descended from the ''International Cyclopaedia'' (1884) and was updated in 1906, 1914 and 1926.
History
''The New Intern ...
He was the first to use the term
Führerprinzip. One of Keyserling's central claims was that certain "gifted individuals" were "born to rule" on the basis of
Social Darwinism.
Although not a doctrinaire pacifist, Keyserling believed that the old German policy of
militarism was dead for all time and that Germany's only hope lay in the adoption of international, democratic principles. His best-known work is the ''Reisetagebuch eines Philosophen'' ("Travel-journal of a Philosopher"). The book also describes his travels in Asia, America and Southern Europe.
He died at
Innsbruck
Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...
,
Austria.
Works
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References
Further reading
* Dyserinck, Hugo: ''Graf Hermann Keyserling und Frankreich, Ein Kapitel deutsch-französischer Geistesbeziehungen im 20. Jahrhundert''; Bouvier, Bonn 1970;
* Gahlings, Ute: ''Hermann Graf Keyserling, ein Lebensbild''; Justus-von-Liebig-Verlag, Darmstadt 1996;
* Keyserling-Archiv Innsbruck-Mühlau (Hrsg.): ''Graf Hermann Keyserling, ein Gedächtnisbuch''; Rohrer, Innsbruck 1948
* Kaminsky, Amy: ' Victoria Ocampo and the Keyserling Effect' in ''Argentina, Stories for a Nation'', (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008) p. 70-98.
External links
*
ULB Darmstadtat elib.tu-darmstadt.de
at www.schoolofwisdom.com
Schule der Weisheitat schuledesrades.org (German online Books)
THE WEBSITE OF Stammbaum der Grafen und Barone Keyserlingkat www.keyserlingk.info
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keyserling, Hermann
1880 births
1946 deaths
People from Põhja-Pärnumaa Parish
People from Kreis Pernau
Baltic-German people
German philanthropists
German male writers
20th-century philanthropists
20th-century German philosophers