Ludwig Büchner (born March 29, 1824,Darmstadt, Hesse-Darmstadt [Germany]—died April 30, 1899, Darmstadt, Ger.) was a German physician and philosopher who became one of the most popular exponents of 19th-century scientificmaterialism.

The younger brother of the playwrightGeorg Büchner, Ludwig became a lecturer inmedicine at theUniversity of Tübingen, but the outspoken materialism of his masterpiece,Kraft und Stoff (1855;Force and Matter), caused such an outcry that he was forced to resign. He retired to his hometown of Darmstadt and practiced medicine there while continuing to expound his materialistic and atheistic views in numerous publications.

Büchner’s materialistic interpretation of the universe inKraft und Stoff created an uproar for its rejection of God, creation, religion, andfree will and for its explanation ofmind andconsciousness as physical states of the brain produced by matter inmotion. His continued defense ofatheism and atomism and his denial of any distinction between mind and matter (Natur und Geist, 1857; “Nature and Spirit”) appealed strongly to freethinkers, but dialectical materialists condemned his acceptance of competitive capitalism, which Büchner viewed as an example ofCharles Darwin’s “struggle for survival.” An English translation of hisDie Stellung des Menschen in der Natur (1869) appeared asMan, Past, Present and Future (1872).

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