Beck was born in Griffin, GA on Sept. 26, 1913. He received his bachelor's degree from Emory University in 1934, his master's degree from Duke University in 1935, and his doctoral degree from Duke University in 1937.

Before moving to Rochester, he was a Fellow at the University of Berlin (1937—38), an instructor at Emory University (1938—41), assistant professor at the University of Delaware (1941—46), and associate professor at Lehigh University (1946—48), eventually becoming professor (1948—49).

He retired in 1979 and died at age 83 on June 7, 1997 in Rochester, New York.

Books

• Philosophic Inquiry: An Introduction to Philosophy (1952)
• A Commentary on Kant's Critique of Practical Reason (1961)
• Six Secular Philosophers (1966)
• Early German Philosophy: Kant and His Predecessors (1969)
• The Actor and the Spectator (1975)
• Essays in Kant and Hume (1978)

Translations

• Kant's Critique of Practical Reason
• Kant's The Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals