Hermann Graf Keyserling

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Hermann Graf Keyserling
Signature Hermann Graf Keyserling 1919 (cropped) .jpg

Hermann Alexander Graf Keyserling , shortly Hermann Keyserling (born July 8 jul. / 20th July  1880 greg. In Könno (Estonian: Kõnnu , today community Kaisma ) in the former Governorate of Livonia ; † 26. April 1946 in Innsbruck ) was a Baltic German Philosopher .

Life

Raykull manor

Hermann Keyserling, a grandson of the geologist Alexander Graf Keyserling , who was respected in Russia , came from an old Baltic German aristocratic family. He grew up on his father's secluded Livonian estates, first in Könno, then in Rayküll , where he was tutored by his parents and private tutors. After the death of his father Leo (1895), his mother Johanna married one of these tutors in 1900. This inappropriate connection, which Hermann Keyserling deeply disapproved of, led to a lasting and momentous rift: the mother turned radically against class differences, the son became an advocate of aristocratic ideals.

After graduating from high school (1897) Keyserling moved to Geneva, where he studied geology. 1898–1899 he continued his studies in Dorpat (now Tartu , Estonia). There he was seriously wounded in a duel in 1899. He then went to Heidelberg, then to Vienna, where he completed his geology studies with a doctorate in 1902. In Vienna he made friends with the writer Houston Stewart Chamberlain , under whose influence he turned to philosophy. Chamberlain was a role model for him as a person, but, in Keyserling's words, there was no “factual and mental correspondence” between them, and later they parted ways. From 1903–1906 Keyserling lived in Paris, 1906–1908 in Berlin, then he returned to his Rayküll estate. The family fortune enabled him to live as a freelance writer and philosopher.

From 1911 to 1912 he undertook the world tour, on which his best-known work was created, the travel diary , which, however, only appeared in 1919 due to the chaos of the war, and which then made him famous. By the end of the Weimar Republic , 50,000 copies had been sold despite the demanding philosophical content. After the end of the war he emigrated to Germany. The expropriation of his goods by the Estonian government without compensation in 1919 deprived him of his previous financial basis. In the same year he married Countess Maria Goedela von Bismarck-Schönhausen (1896–1981), a granddaughter of Reich Chancellor Otto von Bismarck , with whom he had two sons Manfred (1920–2008) and Arnold (1922–2005). At the invitation of the former Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse , he settled in Darmstadt. There, in 1920, with the support of Ernst Ludwig and the publisher Otto Reichl, he founded the "School of Wisdom", a school of life and, above all, a meeting place for important personalities in intellectual life. Thomas Mann was one of the prominent sponsors of the project . At Keyserling founding of the Society for Free Philosophy was Kuno Graf von Hardenberg significantly involved. As a philosophical writer and head of the school, Keyserling became one of the most famous personalities of intellectual life in the Weimar Republic. Participants in the annual meetings of his school include a. Carl Gustav Jung , Max Scheler , Richard Wilhelm , Leo Frobenius , Paul Dahlke , Rabindranath Tagore , Frank Thieß and Hans Driesch . One focus of his endeavors was the European discussion of Asian thinking, another the intellectual exchange between Germany and France. His most famous works have been translated into English, French and Spanish and have also attracted a great deal of attention abroad. The effect of his appearance shaped the ideas of what a philosopher can be in public.

Grave of Hermann Graf Keyserling in the New Mühlau Cemetery, Innsbruck

From 1931 Keyserling publicly dealt with the rise of National Socialism . He described it as irrationalism, which must lead to catastrophe, and concluded: " National Socialism [...] must [...] as a party never gain leadership ". However, he tried to find positive aspects in National Socialism. He was violently attacked in the National Socialist press. After Hitler came to power, he was banned from speaking . He was also no longer able to publish and was no longer allowed to travel abroad. But because of its reputation abroad, these bans were temporarily relaxed.

After the end of the war, Keyserling planned to re-establish the School of Wisdom in Innsbruck. The project received a lot of support in Austria, but did not materialize because Keyserling died in April 1946. He is buried in the Innsbruck-Mühlau cemetery.

His son Arnold Keyserling later also emerged as a philosopher.

plant

The travel diary of a philosopher is one of Keyserling's fundamental works. It contains the philosophical impressions of the world tour that took the author across the Mediterranean , the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean to Ceylon , India , China , Japan and North America. Far Eastern wisdom meets the Western worldview here. The motto was The shortest way to yourself leads around the world . He described that on the journey he became so absorbed in his surroundings that he became part of it. So he liked to compare himself to Proteus , the Greek god of change, who could take any shape.

In the spectrum of Europe , Keyserling offered the characteristics of the European peoples. Some of his descriptions of national mentalities are still considered to be amazingly up-to-date. However, they are also strongly influenced by the author's subjective, sometimes harsh assessments. The very critical chapter on Switzerland caused a sensation and violent opposition, but in Switzerland it also met with the critical approval of Carl Gustav Jung . The Portugal chapter, which also contains very negative evaluations, is missing in some of the editions. Keyserling described the German as the only objective person , as the only European to whom things mean more than people . He came to the conclusion that all of Europe was essentially of one mind ; Europe’s task is to represent the principle of individualism . Internationalism is in a certain sense justified, but must not be victorious in Europe, otherwise it would dissolve nationality. The main representative of internationalism is Judaism, which has led a parasitic existence in Europe since the Middle Ages, judged from the point of view of others and in relation to others . In Keyserling's view, the Jews should instead remain Jews and consciously acknowledge their nationality , then they could play a purely beneficial role in the future .

In the South American meditations , the fruit of a trip to South America, he developed his conception of the Gana , a blind urge , the bondage to an irrational underworld that dominates the person who has fallen into instinct. The opposite pole to this is the break-in of the spirit , which begins with a tragic attitude towards life and enables spiritually determined people to free themselves from the seriousness of earthly gravity and all bondage and to see life as a game, as a drama ( "Divina Commedia" ).

reception

In addition to enthusiastic supporters, Keyserling also had bitter opponents. These included well-known personalities in intellectual life such as Kurt Tucholsky , Rudolf Steiner , Hans Blüher and Ludwig Klages . Klages accused Keyserling of plagiarism . From the point of view of the university philosophy, Keyserling was perceived as distant or even negative. His philosophy of life , his self-observation and the derivation of philosophical insights from personal experiences, which occupy a large space in his work, were accused of overemphasizing himself. His glorification of the ideal of nobility - he saw the grand seigneur as the "ultimate expression" of humanity - met with sharp opposition from democrats. His claim to be a wisdom teacher and head of a wisdom school was a source of ridicule. Emil Preetorius wrote a vicious poem from which a shaking rhyme became known: When God's breath became quieter, he created Count Keyserling . Tucholsky's polemic against Keyserling was particularly violent.

Keyserling's estate is kept in the Darmstadt University and State Library.

Works (selection)

Original editions

  • The fabric of the world. Attempt at a critical philosophy . Bruckmann, Munich 1906 ( online )
  • Immortality. A critique of the relationships between natural occurrences and human imaginations . Lehmann, Munich 1907 ( online )
  • Individual and Zeitgeist . Kluge and Ströhm, Reval 1909
  • Prolegomena to natural philosophy . Lehmann, Munich 1910 ( online )
  • Schopenhauer as a suspect . Eckardt, Leipzig 1910
  • Two speeches . Jonck and Poliewsky, Riga 1911 (contains: Germanic and Romanic culture , On the Interest of History )
  • About the inner relationship between the cultural problems of the Orient and the Occident . Diederichs, Jena 1913
  • What we need. What I want . Reichl, Darmstadt 1919
  • A philosopher's travel diary . Two volumes, Reichl, Darmstadt 1919, new edition: Reichl, St. Goar 2000, ISBN 978-3-87667-246-5 ( online )
  • Philosophy as art . Reichl, Darmstadt 1920 ( online )
  • Politics, economics, wisdom . Reichl, Darmstadt 1922 ( online )
  • Creative knowledge. Introduction to the School of Wisdom . Reichl, Darmstadt 1922 ( online , online in the Internet archive )
  • The emerging world . Reichl, Darmstadt 1926 ( online )
  • People as symbols . Reichl, Darmstadt 1926 (contains: On the productivity of the inadequate , Schopenhauer as a picture , Spengler the factual man , Kant the sensory recorder , Jesus the magician; online )
  • Rebirth . Reichl, Darmstadt 1927 ( online )
  • The spectrum of Europe . German Publishing House, Berlin / Stuttgart 1928 ( online )
  • America set free . Harper, New York 1929; German America, the rise of a new world . German Publishing House, Berlin / Stuttgart 1930 ( online )
  • South American meditations . German Publishing House, Berlin / Stuttgart 1932 ( online )
  • La Vie Intime. Essais Proximistes . Stock, Paris 1933 (French only)
  • La Révolution Mondiale et la Responsabilité de l'Esprit . Stock, Paris 1934 (French only)
  • Sur l'Art de la Vie . Stock, Paris 1936 (French only)
  • The book of personal life . German Publishing House, Berlin / Stuttgart 1936 ( online )
  • De la Souffrance à la Plénitude . Stock, Paris 1938 (French only)
  • Contemplations of silence and contemplation . Diederichs, Jena 1941 ( online )
  • The book of origin . Bühler, Baden-Baden 1947 ( online )
  • Journey through time ( online )
    • Volume 1: Origins and Developments . Edited by Goedela Countess Keyserling-Bismarck, Die Palme, Innsbruck 1948 ( online )
    • Volume 2: Adventure of the Soul . Edited by the Keyserling Archive, Holle, Darmstadt 1958 ( online )
    • Volume 3: Change of Empires . Edited by the Keyserling Archive, Verlag der Palme, Innsbruck 1963 ( online )
  • Criticism of thought. The epistemological foundations of sensory problems . Edited by the Keyserling Archive, Die Palme, Innsbruck 1948 ( online )

As editor

  • The candlestick. Weltanschauung and lifestyle (magazine), 1919 ff.
  • The way to completion . Messages from the “School of Wisdom” (magazine), 1920 ff.
  • The marriage book. A new meaning in the harmony of the voices of leading contemporaries , Niels Kampmann, Celle o. J. (= 1925)
  • Man and Earth (= The Candlestick , Vol. 8), Reichl, Darmstadt 1927 

literature

Web links

Wikiquote: Hermann von Keyserling  - Quotes
Wikisource: Hermann von Keyserling  - Sources and full texts

Remarks

  1. ↑ Barbara Garthe: About the life and work of Count Hermann Keyserling , PhD thesis Erlangen 1976, pp. 31–43; Ute Gahlings: Hermann Graf Keyserling , Darmstadt 1996, pp. 17-23.
  2. ^ Barbara Garthe: About the life and work of Count Hermann Keyserling , PhD thesis Erlangen 1976, pp. 44–47; Ute Gahlings: Hermann Graf Keyserling , Darmstadt 1996, p. 26 f.
  3. ↑ Barbara Garthe: About the life and work of Count Hermann Keyserling , PhD thesis Erlangen 1976, pp. 55–84; Ute Gahlings: Hermann Graf Keyserling , Darmstadt 1996, pp. 25-35.
  4. ↑ For the relationship between the two from Keyserling's point of view, see Journey through time 1,3 ; see also Barbara Garthe: About the life and work of Count Hermann Keyserling , Dissertation Erlangen 1976, p. 65 ff .; Ute Gahlings: Hermann Graf Keyserling , Darmstadt 1996, pp. 29–31, 36.
  5. ↑ Ute Gahlings: Hermann Graf Keyserling , Darmstadt 1996, p. 115.
  6. ↑ Ute Gahlings: Hermann Graf Keyserling , Darmstadt 1996, p. 109.
  7. ↑ Ute Gahlings: Hermann Graf Keyserling , Darmstadt 1996, p. 130 f.
  8. ↑ Thomas Seng: Weltanschauung as a publishing task. Otto Reichl Verlag, 1909–1954 , St. Goar 1994, p. 222 f .; Eckhart G. Franz: Hardenberg, Kuno Graf von . In: Stadtlexikon Darmstadt , on: darmstadt-stadtlexikon.de.
  9. ^ Directory of the conference lectures given by Barbara Garthe: About the life and work of Count Hermann Keyserling , Dissertation Erlangen 1976, pp. 395–399.
  10. ↑ Detailed description in Hugo Dyserinck: Graf Hermann Keyserling and France , Bonn 1970.
  11. ↑ Barbara Garthe: About the life and work of Count Hermann Keyserling , PhD thesis Erlangen 1976, p. 406 f. (List of translations).
  12. ^ Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung of October 20, 1931, Kölnische Zeitung of November 12, 1931, quoted from Ute Gahlings: Hermann Graf Keyserling , Darmstadt 1996, p. 236.
  13. ↑ Ute Gahlings: Hermann Graf Keyserling , Darmstadt 1996, pp. 243-271; Hugo Dyserinck: Count Hermann Keyserling and France , Bonn 1970, p. 99 ff.
  14. ↑ Ute Gahlings: Hermann Graf Keyserling , Darmstadt 1996, pp. 295-303.
  15. ↑ See Andreas Urs Sommer : "Petit bourgeois, petty, small". Switzerland according to the judgment of Count Hermann Keyserling . In: Swiss Monthly Issues for Politics, Economy, Culture , Vol. 73, Issue 1, January 1993, pp. 14–21.
  16. ↑ Keyserling, Spectrum , 5th edition, p. 106 ff.
  17. ↑ Keyserling, Spektrum , 5th edition, pp. 371, 396.
  18. ↑ Keyserling, Spektrum , 5th edition, pp. 380–383.
  19. ↑ Rudolf Steiner: Lectures of October 15, 1920 (Steiner Complete Edition, Vol. 324a), February 16, 1921 (GA 338), March 11, 1921 (203), August 26, 1921 (GA 77b).
  20. ↑ Hans Blüher, The elements of the German position. Open letter to Count Keyserling , Berlin 1927.
  21. ↑ An English critic wrote that Keyserling lived in "indecent intimacy with himself"; Keyserling, Spektrum , 5th edition p. 37.
  22. ^ Keyserling, Spectrum , 5th edition, pp. 195f.
  23. ↑ Karin Schmidt: Investigations on the South American image in the South American Meditations by Count Hermann Keyserling , Dissertation Aachen 1992, pp. 122, 141 ff .; Keyserling, Reise durch die Zeit , Vol. 2, pp. 189–191 (on criticism in the USA) and pp. 191 f. (on criticism in Switzerland).
  24. ^ Text of the poem by Ute Gahlings: Hermann Graf Keyserling , Darmstadt 1996, p. 234.
  25. ↑ Kurt Tucholsky: Collected Works . Vol. 6, 1975, pp. 144-155; Kurt Tucholsky: The Darmstädter Armleuchter (Wikisource).
personal data
SURNAME Keyserling, Hermann Graf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Keyserling, Hermann; Keyserling, Hermann Alexander Graf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH July 20, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH Konno , Livonia
DATE OF DEATH April 26, 1946
Place of death innsbruck