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 InterAmerican
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.
