BECHER, ERICH. - German philosopher, b. in Reinshagen (Remscheid) on Sept. 1, 1882, d. Jan. 5, 1929 in Munich, where he had been a professor since 1916.

Principal works, besides an autobiography: Philosophische Voraussetzungen der exakten Naturwissenschaften (1907); Gehirn und Seele (1911); Naturphilosophie (1914); Weltgebäude, Weltgesetze, Weltentwicklung (1915); Einführung in die Philosophie (1926); Metaphysik und Naturwissenschaften (1926).

B. is a critical realist: existences not given in consciousness reveal themselves through their activity, and the reality of an external world is a seriously probable hypothesis. Substances are complexes of persistent qualities; bodies are qualities filling space, and they form the real correlates of immediately perceptible qualities. His conception of nature is the mechanical one, confirmed according to B. by electron theory. In psychology he insists on the doctrine of reciprocal activity or Wechselwirkung; in ethics he advocates a social eudemonism or, properly understood, utilitarianism.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: R. Eisler, Philosophen-Lexikon, Berlin 1912, p. 51; Autobiogr. in R. Schmidt, Philosophie der Gegenwart in Selbstdarstell., III, 2nd ed., Leipzig 1923; P. Luchtenberg, in Kunststudien, 34 (1929), pp. 275-90.

@incollection{ec2_becher_erich, author = {Degl'Innocenti, Umberto}, title = {Becher, erich}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {II}, pages = {1128}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/becher-erich} }

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Becher, Erich

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