The Biosophical Institute was an educational center, a utopian community, and an ethical reform movement. The Institute had its origins in the ideas of Frederick Kettner, an educator and philosopher born in Czernowitz, Austria, in 1886. As a young man Kettner was influenced by the ethical philosophy of Spinoza, and his dissertation completed in 1919 was entitled “The Unity of the Five Books of Spinoza's Ethics.” In his teaching Kettner began to develop a personal philosophy of world improvement based upon the spiritual growth and development of individuals; he named this philosophy Biosophy. In 1926 Kettner came to the United States in order to practice his ideas about spiritual self-education and character development in a free society.
Kettner's ideas rapidly attracted a following among students of the City College who began meeting at his home. This group was more formally organized first as the Spinoza Club and then in 1928 as the Spinoza Institute. In 1930 Kettner attracted the attention of artist Nicholas Roerich who offered space at his Roerich Museum. There the group became known as the Spinoza Center of the Roerich Society. Later the name was changed to the Biosophical Institute.
About the same time many of Kettner's adherents gradually began an experiment in community living in order to more fully practice his ideas. This first consisted of an apartment at the Roerich Museum where seven women lived, and later of neighboring apartment units, with some shared housekeeping and eating facilities. There were separate communities for men and women, and the communities included several married couples. The communities later consolidated at the Hotel Dauphin.
From its headquarters in New York City the Institute operated programs including the School for Biosophical Peace Research Within Man, the Institute for Cultural and Spiritual Values, and the Inter-American Friendship Center. The group held frequent lectures and classes and published a variety of titles promoting biosophical views. In 1936 Kettner and the Institute began advocating the idea of a secretary of peace. In 1939 it sponsored the documentary film “World Leaders on Peace and Democracy” that was exhibited at the New York World's Fair. As a result of these activities Kettner's admirers grew to include such prominent individuals as Will Durant, Felix Adler, Upton Sinclair, and John Haynes Holmes. Branches in Chicago, Cleveland, White Plains, and Washington, D.C. were also established, and at its peak Biosophy boasted several thousand followers.
During the 1950's Kettner suffered from declining health, but no method of sharing leadership was developed. As a result, Kettner's death in 1957 marked the virtual end of the movement.
