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 Countess Maria Goedela von
Bismarck-Schönhausen, granddaughter of
Otto von Bismarck. His son
Arnold von Keyserling followed his fathers footsteps and became a renowned philosopher. Hermann Keyserling 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. 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", 1919). The book also describes his travels in Asia, America and Southern Europe. He died at
Innsbruck,
Austria. ==Works==