Kettner, Frederick (d. 1957)
Kettner, Frederick (d. 1957)
Founder of the Biosophical Institute and Biosophy, a system of spiritual self-education and self-improvement intended to create a world fellowship of peace-loving men and women who have overcome religious, national, racial, and social prejudice to work creatively for the growth of democracy and world peace.
Kettner was inspired by the writings of the philosopher Baruch Spinoza and became a leading authority on his teachings. He created the Institute for the Advancement of Cultural and Spiritual Values in cooperation with leading educators and thinkers in the United States and in 1935 inaugurated a movement to place a secretary of peace in every government. He toured the United States to lecture on his ideas. ln 1936 the secretary of peace concept was partially endorsed by the Inter-American Peace Conference in Buenos Aires, where Kettner founded the Instituto Biosofico Argentino. He also founded the Biosophical Institute, which continues his teachings and which was warmly endorsed by Albert Einstein, who wrote, "Your group is the embodiment of that spirit which Spinoza served so passionately."