Ludwig Büchner - Biography
Ludwig Büchner was born Friedrich Karl Christian Ludwig Büchner in Darmstadt, Germany on March 29, 1824 and died in 1899. He was a popular representative of materialism and postulated that everything is only matter such that the soul can be reduced to physiologically describable brain functions. Also of great importance was Ludwig Büchner’s work towards a public health care system in concert with public health standards. He was revolutionary in his thought and participated in the infamous revolution of 1848. Also of noteworthy import is the introduction of Charles Darwin to the German reader through Ludwig Büchner’s writing.
He was the third son of the esteemed Dr. Ernst Büchner and the younger brother of Georg Büchner who was famous for his tragedy, Danton’s Death. Ludwig Büchner began his studies in 1842 at the University of Giessen studying physics, chemistry, botany, mineralogy and philosophy. Initially he selected philosophy as his primary course of study, but a year later, due to his father’s wishes, he had switched to medicine. Yet, while he pursued his medical degree, he continued his interest in the natural sciences. The Summer of 1848 was a tumultuous time for Ludwig Büchner as his energy was divided between the preparation of his medical examination with a dissertation entitled Beiträge zur Hall’schen lehre von einem excitomotorischen Nervensystem (Contributions to the theory of a Hallerian excitomotorischen nervous system), and his participation in the political movements taking place towards the revolution. Together with Karl Vogt and August Becker, he participated in the Revolution of 1848/9, while maintaining a very active school life writing numerous articles and holding public meetings.
In the fall of 1848 Ludwig Büchner presented his dissertation defended by his infamous phrase: “Without its material substance the personal soul is unthinkable.” After successfully receiving his Doctor title from the University of Giessen he returned to his hometown where he worked with Dr. Otto Lüning on the Neue deutsche Zeitung, providing him a platform for his political thoughts and opinions. He also continued to study in Würzburg, with the well-known Rudolf Virchow, and in Strausbourg, Vienna and Prague. In 1850 he published Nachgelassene Schriften as a biography of his brother, Georg Büchner, the famous playwright.
From 1852 until 1855 Ludwig Büchner accepted a position as assistant physician and private docent under the direction of Professor Rapp at the medical clinic in Tübigen. Alongside his doctoral work he lectured with good reception on topics such as syphilis, physical diagnostics, medical encyclopedias and judicial medicine. The latter became Ludwig Büchner’s main preoccupation and he collected and sought for results of recent physiological and pathological anatomy to further his cause. During this time he continued to publish many medical articles in the Deutsche Klinik, the Virchowsche Archiv, and the Prager Viertelkahresschrift among others, including popular scientific pieces in education journals.
A memorable meeting of the German naturalists held in 1854 and a lecture by Jacob Moleschott, entitled “The Circle of Life,” inspired Ludwig Büchner to write his most well-known book, Kraft und Stoff: Empirisch-naturphilosophische Studien (Force and Matter. Empirical Philosophical Natural Studies). In Force and Matter Ludwig Büchner boldly attempted to reshape the existing theological-philosophical worldview based on modern knowledge of nature. The book was published in 1855 and due to its controversial reception Ludwig Büchner lost his teaching post and was forced to return to his hometown of Darmstadt where he joined his father’s practice as a general practitioner.
There he continued to write and published many articles in 1856 for the Hamburg weekly newspaper Jahrhundret. Some of these articles include “The History of Earth, Light and Life,” “The Concept of God and His Importance for the Present,” “The Positivists,” “No More Speculative Philosophy,” “The Poetry of Strength and Material,” and “The Immortality of Power.” In addition, he prolifically wrote for many other newspapers throughout Germany. And due to the worldwide interest in his divisive book, Force and Matter, he maintained much correspondence and debate around the world. Force and Matter had been, and continued to be, translated into many languages and had twenty-one editions within fifty years in Germany alone. For its time it was an unusual bestseller as much as it had been controversial.
After the storm from its initial publication, the uproar and criticism of Force and Matter had somewhat abated and later editions and translations appeared without much debate. These editions of Force and Matter also contain many additions as well as rewrites (and in some cases other elements have been taken out entirely), that they can be viewed almost as new works. Regardless of its editions (and additions), the text was groundbreaking for its time and inspired many new works and ideas. Force and Matter captures Ludwig Büchner’s vision of materialism and atheism, raising one hand against a purely speculative philosophy and the other against a natural science not based on mere empiricism.
In 1857 Ludwig Büchner published Natur und Geist oder Gespräche zweier Freunde über den Materialismus und über die realphilosophischen Fragen der Gegenwart (Nature and Spirit or a Conversation Between Two Friends about Materialism and Real Philosophical Issues of Our Time) in which he attempted to present the warring opinions on materialism. Unfortunately, it was very misunderstood and the “conversation” format was deemed inappropriate for the general public. Due to all of the critical damage it caused Ludwig Büchner he only published the first volume (the macrocosm) and not the second (the microcosm), which is now missing. In 1865 a second edition, the “second improved edition” (of the first edition), was published.
During these times, Ludwig Büchner continued with his scientific studies. A thesis on hemin crystals earned him an honorary membership and a silver medal from the Society of Pharmacology (Vereins für Staatsarzneikunde). Soon afterwards he was given the title of Master and also an honorary membership in the “Freie deutsche Hochstift” in Frankfurt, where he had given lectures. These lectures, as well as some given to the Society of Doctors in Darmstadt along with various published articles on such themes, gave him material for his next book entitled, Physiological Images (Physiologische Bilder), published in 1861 in Leipzig. Content for the book included topics such as blood, warmth and life, cells, air and lungs, and chloroform. The second publication of the book included further discussions on the brain, the nerves, the soul of animals, the sexes, life expectancy and death. Among other topics, he brought together in this book life’s progression, materialism and spirituality, the origin of the soul, physiological inheritances, instinct and free will.
In 1860 he married (Karoline Georgine) Sophie Thomas, the daughter of the writer and jurist Dr. Georg Christian and Caroline Thomas. In 1874 he went on a tour giving lectures in Germany and the United States. In 1881 he founded the “Deutsche Freidenkerbund” (“German Freethinkers Society”). He helped to found the “Freien deutschen Hochstifts”, an organization based in Frankfurt am Main that still exists today. He was on the board of directors for the Doctors’ League Hessland and was outspoken on the theme of public health care. Politically he came into contact with Ferdinand Lasalle. And Socialism was at the core of his beliefs, which, of course, aligned with his own ideas on public health care. And in this way, he wanted to enable an understanding of materialism within popular culture as he saw it a great value and asset—a formidable way for society to take control and responsibility of their own health and wellbeing.
While propagating the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin and a mechanistic theory of heredity, Ludwig Büchner helped to popularize science. As well, he tried repeatedly to present his theory of a “natural,” i.e. both mechanistic and materialistic, world order. For Ludwig Büchner “thinking and being are as inseparable as force and matter or spirit and material” and, therefore, “as highly differentiated and idiosyncratic the character of life may be, it was nothing more and nothing less, than movements brought about by the peculiar and highly specialized condition of ordinary matter.”
Ludwig Büchner has been criticized for promoting a “populist” natural science, taking a superficial approach to material and simplifying factual research. Yet others, such as Ernst Haeckel, believed that Ludwig Büchner should be recognized as a thinker who had a tenacious boldness and clarity of thought able to draw the necessary conclusions at the turn of the century. Though it is said that Ludwig Büchner was at times a unilateral thinker and that his works were often rough, it should be emphasized that the direction of his thought process helped to lead the path towards our modern ways of thought.
After his focus on the popularization of science in the 1860’s, Ludwig Büchner shifted his interest towards popularizing medicine and hygiene, publishing Das Buch vom langen Leben (The Book of Long Life). This led to his earning the title of Professor in 1878. His other books include Natur und Geist (1857), Der Fortschritt in Natur und Geschichte im Lichte der Darwinischen Theorie (1884), Sechs Vorlesungen über die Darwin’sche Theorie von der Verwandlung der Arten und die erste Entstechung der Organismenwelt (1868), Thatsachen und Theorien aus dem naturwissenschaftlichen Leben der Gegenwart (1887). Ludwig Büchner was influenced by Ludwig Feuerbach and Friedrich Albert Lange and later by Monism, which led him to publish the book Die Macht der Vererbung (The Power of Inheritance) in 1892. Ludwig Büchner’s later writings became increasingly devoted to religious issues and less to science. Towards the end of the century an agnostic mood was apparent in his understanding of materialism.
He was known for his more or less radical thoughts on materialism and medicine that manifested in his rejection of a natural “healing power” or “life force”, and his strong belief in the theory of evolution and hereditary disease, as well as his liberal statements on abortion and euthanasia. Ludwig Büchner’s importance as a doctor lay in his relationship between the public, government and medicine. He promoted a liberalization and humanization of judicature and hygienic conditions for the public. Through his popularization of medical content, he was a pioneer of scientific medicine. Ludwig Büchner also gained special significance for Middle Eastern intellectual history as his works introduced both Darwinism and materialism to that part of the world.