Hermann Alexander Graf von Keyserling ( – 26 April 1946) was a

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

philosopher from the

Keyserlingk The Keyserlingk family was a noble family from Westphalia. It was first mentioned with ''Hermann Keselinch'' on 16 November 1300. The direct line began with ''Albert Keserlink'' (mentioned 1443–1467), mayor at Herford. In 1492 his son ''Herma ...

family. His grandfather,

Alexander von Keyserling Alexander Friedrich Michael Lebrecht Nikolaus Arthur Graf von Keyserling (15 August 1815 – 8 May 1891) was a Baltic German geologist and paleontologist from the Keyserlingk family of Baltic German nobility. Career Alexander von Keyserli ...

, was a notable geologist of Imperial Russia.

Life

Keyserling was born to a wealthy aristocratic family in the Könno Manor, Kreis Pernau in

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a Baltic governorate of the Russian Empire, now divided between Latvia and Estonia. Geography The shape of the province is a fairly rectangular in shape, with a maximum ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the 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 the Great Northern War. ...

, now in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. After his education at the universities of

Dorpat Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

(Tartu),

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, he took a trip around the world. He married Maria Goedela von Bismarck-Schönhausen, granddaughter of Otto von Bismarck. His son

Arnold Keyserling Arnold Alexander Herbert Otto Heinrich Constantin Graf von Keyserling (February 9, 1922 in Hamburg – September 7, 2005 in Matrei, Tyrol), better known as Arnold Keyserling, was a German philosopher and theologian. He was the son of Hermann von ...

followed his fathers footsteps and became a renowned philosopher. Hermann Keyserling interested himself in natural science and in philosophy, and before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he was known both as a student of

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

and as a popular

essayist An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...

. The Russian Revolution deprived him of his estate in

Livonia Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...

, and with the remains of his fortune he founded the ''Gesellschaft für Freie Philosophie'' (Society for Free Philosophy) at Darmstadt. The mission of this school was to bring about the intellectual reorientation of Germany. New International Encyclopedia He was the first to use the term

Führerprinzip The (; German for 'leader principle') prescribed the fundamental basis of political authority in the Government of Nazi Germany. This principle can be most succinctly understood to mean that "the Führer's word is above all written law" and th ...

. One of Keyserling's central claims was that certain "gifted individuals" were "born to rule" on the basis of

Social Darwinism Social Darwinism refers to various theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economics and politics, and which were largely defined by scholars in We ...

. Although not a doctrinaire pacifist, Keyserling believed that the old German policy of

militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

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,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Works

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References

External links

*
ULB Darmstadt
at elib.tu-darmstadt.de

at www.schoolofwisdom.com
Schule der Weisheit
at schuledesrades.org (German online Books)
THE WEBSITE OF Stammbaum der Grafen und Barone Keyserlingk
at 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

Life

Works

References

Further reading

External links