Lewis White Beck
Lewis White Beck | |
---|---|
Born | 26 September 1913 |
Died | 7 June 1997 Rochester, New York | (aged 83)
Awards | Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences |
Era | Western philosophy |
Region | German philosophy |
Main interests | Immanuel Kant, Moral philosophy |
Lewis White Beck (September 26, 1913 – June 7, 1997) was an American philosopher and scholar of German philosophy. Beck was Burbank Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy at the University of Rochester and served as the Philosophy Department chair there from 1949 to 1966. He translated several of Immanuel Kant's works, such as the Critique of Practical Reason, and was the author of Studies in the Philosophy of Kant (1965).
Biography[edit]
Born in Griffin, Georgia, Beck was the youngest of four children in a family raised by Erasmus W. Beck and Ann H. Beck. His siblings included: Evelyn H. Beck , Edwin H. Beck and Sarah A Beck. His father was employed as both an engineer and a sales representative.[1]
Beck received his bachelor's degree Phi Beta Kappa from Emory University in 1934, his master's degree from Duke University in 1935, and his doctoral degree from Duke University in 1937. His dissertation was entitled: "Synopsis: A Study in the Theory of Knowledge.[2]
Academic career[edit]
Before moving to Rochester, Beck was an international student and a Fellow at the University of Berlin (1937–38; an interview about his experiences there appeared in The Atlanta Constitution, Sept. 18, 1938), an instructor at Emory University (1938–41), assistant professor at the University of Delaware (1941–46), and associate professor at Lehigh University (1946–48), eventually becoming professor (1948–49). [3]
Beck joined the faculty at the University or Rochester in 1949 and served as Chairman of its Department of Philosophy from 1949-1966. He also served as Associate Dean of the Graduate School (1952-1956) as well as the Dean of the Graduate School (1956-1957) where he helped to raise international recognition for the PhD. program in Philosophy.[4] In !962 he was appointed as the Burbank Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy and subsequently Professor Emeritus in 1979.[5][6] In 1962 he became the first recipient of the University's Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching.[7] He was subsequently elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1963.[8][9]
During the course of his long academic career, Beck also held appointments as a visiting lecturer at several leading academic research centers including: Columbia University (1950), George Washington University, the University of Minnesota (1953), the University of California at Berkeley (1973), Yale University (1974) and the Rochester Institute of Technology (1982-1983). In addition, he received honorary degrees from Hamilton College, Emory University and the University of Tubingen.[10][11]
Academic works[edit]
Beck is most noted for his research into the collective writings of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant. Included among his publications is a translation of Kant's extensive "Critique of Pure Reason" in 1949.[12][13] He also achieved widespread national and international recognition within academic circles for his scholarship, commentary and encyclopedic knowledge of Kant's philosophical works.[14]
Over the years, Beck was praised by his students for his charm and wit. Even after his formal retirement in 1979 he continued to meet with informal gatherings of aspiring young scholars in an effort to share his unique insights into Kant's works until 1996.[15] He was often observed to joke that his prize for an award in teaching excellence was rejected as "nontaxable" by the Internal Revenue Service because it was more appropriately categorized as "unearned".[16]
Death[edit]
Beck retired in 1979 and died at age 83 in Rochester, New York.[17]
Selected publications[edit]
External videos | |
---|---|
You may read Lewis White Beck's: Studies in the Philosophy of Kant (1965) Early German Philosophy: Kant and His Predecessors (1969) and additional publications about Kant Here on Archive.org |
Books[edit]
- Philosophic Inquiry: An Introduction to Philosophy (1952)
- A Commentary on Kant's Critique of Practical Reason (1961)
- Six Secular Philosophers (1966)
- Early German Philosophy: Kant and His Predecessors (1969)
- The Actor and the Spectator (1975)
- Essays on Kant and Hume (1978)
- Mr. Boswell dines with Professor Kant (1979)
Translations[edit]
- Kant, Immanuel (1950). Lewis White Beck (ed.). Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics That Will Be Able to Present Itself as a Science. New York: Bobbss Merrill Educational Publishing – via Internet Archive.
- Kant, Immanuel (1956). Critique of Practical Reason. Translated by Lewis White Beck. New York: The Liberal Arts Press – via Internet Archive.
- Kant, Immanuel (1997). The Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals and What is Enlightenment. Translated by Lewis White Beck (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Inc. – via Internet Archive.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Philosophy Documentation Center: The American Philosophical Association Centennial Series 2013: Presidential Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 1981-1990. Hull, Richard T. Biography: Lewis White Beck 2013 p. 69-71 Lewis White Beck on Google.com
- ^ Philosophy Documentation Center: The American Philosophical Association Centennial Series 2013: Presidential Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 1981-1990. Hull, Richard T. Biography: Lewis White Beck 2013 p. 69-71 Lewis White Beck on Google.com
- ^ Kantian Review Vol 1.In Memoriam: Lewis White Beck. Cambridge University Press 1997 p. 186 Lewis White Beck on Google.com
- ^ University of Rochester - River Campus Library: Rare Books and Special Collections: "Leafing Through Lewis White Beck's Career and Mind" Tanzel, Vincent. September 29, 2022. Biography: Lewis White Beck on library.rochester.edu
- ^ Philosophy Documentation Center: The American Philosophical Association Centennial Series 2013: Presidential Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 1981-1990. Hull, Richard T. Biography: Lewis White Beck 2013 p. 69-71 Lewis White Beck on Google.com
- ^ Kantian Review Vol 1.In Memoriam: Lewis White Beck. Cambridge University Press 1997 p. 186 Lewis White Beck on Google.com
- ^ University of Rochester - River Campus Library: Rare Books and Special Collections: "Leafing Through Lewis White Beck's Career and Mind" Tanzel, Vincent. September 29, 2022. Biography: Lewis White Beck on library.rochester.edu
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780-2010:ChapterB" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
- ^ Kantian Review Vol 1.In Memoriam: Lewis White Beck. Cambridge University Press 1997 p. 186 Lewis White Beck on Google.com
- ^ Kantian Review Vol 1.In Memoriam: Lewis White Beck. Cambridge University Press 1997 p. 186 Lewis White Beck on Google.com
- ^ Philosophy Documentation Center: The American Philosophical Association Centennial Series 2013: Presidential Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 1981-1990. Hull, Richard T. Biography: Lewis White Beck 2013 p. 69-71 Lewis White Beck on Google.com
- ^ Kantian Review Vol 1.In Memoriam: Lewis White Beck. Cambridge University Press 1997 p. 186 Lewis White Beck on Google.com
- ^ Kantian Review Vol 1.In Memoriam: Lewis White Beck. Cambridge University Press 1997 p. 186 Lewis White Beck on Google.com
- ^ Kantian Review Vol 1.In Memoriam: Lewis White Beck. Cambridge University Press 1997 p. 186 Lewis White Beck on Google.com
- ^ Kantian Review Vol 1.In Memoriam: Lewis White Beck. Cambridge University Press 1997 p. 186 Lewis White Beck on Google.com
- ^ University of Rochester - River Campus Library: Rare Books and Special Collections: "Leafing Through Lewis White Beck's Career and Mind" Tanzel, Vincent. September 29, 2022. Biography: Lewis White Beck on library.rochester.edu
- ^ Kantian Review Vol 1.In Memoriam: Lewis White Beck. Cambridge University Press 1997 p. 186 Lewis White Beck on Google.com
External links[edit]
- "Philosopher, Scholar Lewis White Beck Dies" - University of Rochester press release.
- Lewis White Beck papers, A.B39, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester
- The contingent cathedral: notes on Lewis White Beck’s Early German Philosophy - Notes on, quotations from and summary of Beck's Early German Philosophy
- "Lewis White Beck". JSTOR.
- Works by or about Lewis White Beck at Internet Archive
- 1913 births
- 1997 deaths
- Duke University alumni
- Emory University alumni
- Emory University faculty
- Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Lehigh University faculty
- People from Griffin, Georgia
- People from Spalding County, Georgia
- Philosophers from Delaware
- Philosophers from Georgia (U.S. state)
- Philosophers from New York (state)
- Philosophers from Pennsylvania
- University of Delaware faculty
- University of Rochester faculty
- Translators of Immanuel Kant
- Kant scholars
- American philosopher stubs