| Full name | Hermann Graf Keyserling |
|---|---|
| Born | July 20, 1880 |
| Died | April 26, 1946 (aged 65) |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
Hermann Alexander Graf Keyserling[1] (July 20, 1880–April 26, 1946) was a wealthy philosopher from the aristocratic Baltic German Keyserlingk family. He married Goedela von Bismarck-Schönhausen, granddaughter of Otto von Bismarck. His son Arnold Keyserling was a renowned philosopher as well.
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He was born in Könno, Pernau County, then in the 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 interested himself in natural science and in philosophy, and before World War I he was known both as a student of geology and as a popular essayist. The Russian Revolution 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. The mission of this school was to bring about the intellectual reorientation of Germany.[2]
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, Austria.