Ludwig Büchner
1824–1899 · German philosopher, physiologist and physician, scientific materialist
Ludwig Büchner (Darmstadt, 1824–1899) was a German philosopher, physiologist and physician, and one of the leading exponents of scientific materialism in the nineteenth century. His name is closely tied to freethought and to the debate that set natural science against romantic idealism and theology in Germany during the second half of the century.
He studied natural sciences and medicine at Giessen, graduating in 1848 with a dissertation on the nervous system, and continued his training at Strasbourg, at Würzburg, where he worked with Rudolf Virchow, and in Vienna. In 1852 he was appointed lecturer in medicine at Tübingen, where in 1855 he published his best-known work, Kraft und Stoff (Force and Matter). The book argued for the indestructibility of matter and the conservation of force, and its combative tone provoked such opposition that Büchner had to give up his post and withdraw to Darmstadt, where he practised medicine and kept writing for scientific and popular journals.
His thought was not always consistent on a key point: the relation between matter and force. At times he held that mind emerges from matter, a materialist monism; at others he suggested that mind and matter are two aspects of one underlying reality. What he was clear about was that nature is purely physical, without purpose or will, and without any supernatural ethical sanction. He embraced Darwin's theory with enthusiasm and in 1869 published Man in the Past, Present and Future, in which he drew hopeful social conclusions: he argued for greater equality, collective ownership of land and women's rights, though not for women's suffrage, which he judged premature.
In 1881 he founded the German Freethinkers League and from 1884 to 1890 sat in the chamber of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. His influence lasted mainly within the German freethinking movement, and many of his contemporaries saw him as the leading popularizer of materialism in Germany, although his philosophy was later regarded as unoriginal and lacking a solid metaphysical foundation.
Key ideas
- Scientific materialism: matter and force are infinite, and nature can be explained without appeal to purposes, wills or supernatural principles.
- Conservation of force: force follows from the indestructibility of matter, the ultimate basis of all science.
- Mind as an organic result: the combined effects of the body's organic complex are what we call mind, soul or thought.
- Social Darwinism: evolution should lead humanity toward a less violent condition and greater social equality.
- Freethinking: scientific reason should replace religious authority and romantic idealism.
Books to read
- Darwinismus und Sozialismus: Der Kampf um das Dasein und die Moderne Gesellschaft GermanEPUB 130 KBRead online
Curiosities
Brother of a playwright
He was the younger brother of Georg Büchner, a revolutionary playwright, and of Luise Büchner, an advocate of women's rights.
A visit to Darwin
In 1881, after attending a freethinkers' congress in London, he visited Darwin together with Edward Aveling, who later published an account of the visit.
Original Filopedia text based on Wikipedia (es) and Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.