Philosopher Lewis White Beck dies

Beck, a world-renowned scholar of German philosopher Immanuel Kant, joined the Department of Philosophy in 1949 and served as its chair from 1949 to 1966. An associate dean of the graduate school from 1952-56 and dean from 1956-57, Beck was appointed Burbank Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy in 1962.

"With his wisdom, wit, and his charm, Lewis deeply affected everyone who had any association with our department," said Richard Feldman, outgoing philosophy chair. Under Beck's guidance, the University's philosophy doctoral program gained international recognition.

Beck's publications included Philosophic Inquiry (1952), A Commentary on Kant's Critique of Practical Reason (1961), Early German Philosophy (1969), The Actor and the Spectator (1975), and Essays in Kant and Hume (1978). His translations of Kant's Critique of Practical Reason and The Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals are widely used.

He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1957-58 and a Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies in 1964-65. In addition to being a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science, he was a member of its board of directors from 1970-78.

Beck received his bachelor's degree from Emory University in 1934, and his master's and doctoral degrees from Duke University. He received honorary degrees from Emory University, Hamilton College, the Eberhard Karl University of Tubingen in Germany, and was at various times visiting professor at George Washington University, Columbia University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Western Ontario, Sir George William University in Montreal and the University of California at Berkeley.

Beck, a long-time resident of Rochester, received the University's first Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 1962. He is survived by his wife, Caroline, of Rochester, and his two sons and two grandsons. A memorial service will be held at the Faculty Club on Saturday, June 21, at 1 p.m.