Ernest Becker

• 1. Liberation And The First Book

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  Ernest Becker was born on the 27th of September 1924 in Springfield, Massachusetts. His parents were Jewish immigrants who raised him before he joined the infantry during World War II. He helped liberate a Nazi concentration camp while serving his country. This experience left a permanent mark on his worldview and future writing. After military service ended, Becker attended Syracuse University in New York. He graduated and then worked as an administrative officer at the U.S. Embassy in Paris. In his early thirties, he returned to graduate school for cultural anthropology. He completed his PhD in 1960 with a dissertation that became his first book. Zen: A Rational Critique appeared in 1961 based directly on that doctoral work.

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• 2. Academic Conflicts And Moves

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  Becker began teaching anthropology at Upstate Medical College in Syracuse, New York after graduating from Syracuse University in 1960. He taught within the Department of Psychiatry but faced immediate conflict over academic freedom. The administration fired him along with other non-tenured professors for supporting tenured Professor Thomas Szasz. They had a dispute regarding whether Szasz could teach his views to psychiatry students. Becker sided with Szasz only on this specific issue of free speech rights. After spending a year in Italy, he was hired back at Syracuse University. This time he worked in the School of Education instead of medicine. Trouble arose again between Becker and the administration when he moved to Berkeley in 1965. Thousands of students petitioned to keep him there and offered to pay his salary. Their effort failed to retain him despite their financial support. He then taught at San Francisco State's Department of Psychology until January 1969. He resigned in protest against the administration's strict policies against student demonstrations. In 1969, Becker started a professorship at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. He spent his final years of academic life there while writing extensively.

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• 3. The Denial Of Death Thesis

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  In 1973 Becker published The Denial of Death which won the Pulitzer Prize posthumously two months after his death. His core argument stated that an individual's character forms around denying one's own mortality. He believed this denial is necessary for functioning in the world effectively. This character armor masks and obscures genuine self-knowledge according to his theory. Much of the evil in the world resulted from this need to deny death. Becker used ideas from many different writers including Søren Kierkegaard and Sigmund Freud. Wilhelm Reich, Norman O. Brown, Erich Fromm, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Otto Rank also influenced his theories. He insisted on interdisciplinary work throughout his career. Students flocked to his lectures which were marked by high theatricality. He wrote about how deep theatrical superficialities really go when correcting bias. His insistence on symbolism playing importance in the human animal did not endear him to colleagues.

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• 4. Final Years And Untenured Legacy

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  Becker was diagnosed with colon cancer in November 1972 at age 48. Sixteen months later he died from the disease on the 6th of March 1974. He passed away in Burnaby, British Columbia shortly before completing his final manuscript. Escape from Evil remained unfinished at the time of his death but was published posthumously in 1975. The second half of that book was completed from existing notes and drafts. Shortly before dying, he participated in interviews with Sam Keen for Psychology Today. These conversations captured his thoughts during his final months. The Ernest Becker Foundation was founded after his death to focus on multidisciplinary inquiries into human behavior. It aimed to reduce violence using Becker's basic ideas across science and religion interfaces. Flight From Death is a documentary film directed by Patrick Shen based on Becker's work. It received partial funding from the Ernest Becker Foundation and popularized his ideas further.

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• 5. Terror Management Theory Development

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  Social psychologists transformed Becker's views into Terror Management Theory as an important research programme. This theory has spawned over 200 published studies since its inception. It turns Becker's ideas about cultural influence of death anxiety into scientific concepts. Researchers use it to explain diverse phenomena like self-esteem and prejudice. Religion also falls under the scope of explanations provided by this framework. Becker believed psychological inquiry reaches a threshold where belief systems must satisfy the psyche. His perspective encompasses both science and religion in understanding human nature. The foundation focuses on reducing violence through these interdisciplinary approaches. Studies continue to build upon his original insights regarding mortality denial.

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