Ludwig Büchner

Ludwig Büchner (1824 to 1899) was a German philosopher, physiologist and physician and one of the leading voices of nineteenth-century scientific materialism. Born in Darmstadt, he studied medicine and the natural sciences at Giessen and elsewhere and lectured in medicine at Tübingen. His book Kraft und Stoff (Force and Matter, 1855) argued for the indestructibility of matter and force and for the view that mind and thought arise from matter; the opposition it raised cost him his post, and he returned to Darmstadt to practise as a physician. He took up Charles Darwin's theory of evolution early, wrote on its social implications, and in 1881 founded the German Freethinkers League in Frankfurt. He was the younger brother of the revolutionary playwright Georg Büchner and died in Darmstadt in 1899.