Ernest Becker
Born in 1924
ernestbecker.org
Philosophy
Ernest Becker was a cultural anthropologist and interdisciplinary thinker born to Jewish immigrant parents in Springfield, Massachusetts.
After military service and a career in diplomacy, he pursued graduate studies in cultural anthropology at Syracuse University.
Becker's work bridged psychology, anthropology, and philosophy, exploring how humans cope with mortality.
He drew on thinkers like Kierkegaard, Freud, and Rank to develop theories about character formation and the denial of death.
Despite academic rejection during his lifetime, Becker's ideas gained recognition posthumously with his Pulitzer Prize-winning book.
The Ernest Becker Foundation continues to promote his work and its applications in reducing societal violence.
