biosophy

Biosophy, meaning wisdom of life, is "the science and art of intelligent living based on the awareness and practice of spiritual values, ethical-social principles and character qualities essential to individual freedom and social harmony". It stands in relation to biology, which can be broadly described as the understanding of life.

==History== The term Biosophy was probably first used in 1806 by Ignaz Paul Vitalis Troxler, a Swiss philosopher whose early works followed F. W. J. Schelling. It was later used by other philosophers like Peter Wessel Zapffe (1899–1990), who used biology as the foundation of his philosophy. Zapffe first set out his ideas in Den sidste Messias (en. The Last Messiah) (1933). Later Zapffe gave a more systematic defence in his philosophical treatise Om det tragiske (en. On the tragic) (1941). The Biosophical Institute claims that Frederick Kettner (1886-1957) was the founder of Biosophy. Kettner was himself originally inspired by the organicism of Constantin Brunner.