The Legacy of Ernest Becker: Death, Ideologies, and Cultures

THE KEYNOTE | SHELDON SOLOMONSheldon Solomon is the public intellectual most associated with presenting and developing Becker's work. He is a very engaging speaker who appeals to both lay and professional audiences. Far from being abstract and pedantic, Sheldon's style is vital, rigorous, and engaging. He is a Professor in the Psychology Department of Skidmore College, NY. He and his associates have done much to empirically support Becker's theories.Another speaker associated with the Becker Foundation is David Loy, a Buddhist scholar who has published numerous books, including Lack and Transcendence: The Problem of Death and Life in Psychotherapy, Existentialism, and Buddhism. He is currently located in Boulder, Colorado, and has a keen interest in the conference's themes. ABOUT ERNEST BECKERErnest Becker was one of SFU’s most illustrious scholars. He was and remains well known for his humanistic-existential approach to psychology, especially his studies of life and death, the human condition, and human motivation. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1974 for his book, The Denial of Death. His life and work continue to be celebrated and his ideas developed and applied to a wide range of contemporary issues, from terrorism to environmental concern. One of the most popular contemporary programs of research in social psychology, Terror Management Theory, is based on his ideas concerning the human experience of, and our reactions to, mortality. The Ernest Becker Foundation preserves and perpetuates his work, and a seven-time best documentary award winning film, Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality was produced in 2003, a film that uses Becker’s ideas to examine humankind’s complex relationship with death on psychological, interpersonal, spiritual, and sociocultural levels.