Reinhard Merkel (born 12 April 1950) is a professor in

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...

and

philosophy of law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

and a retired West German swimmer. He competed at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

in the 200 m and 400 m individual medley and finished in sixth place in the latter event. After retiring from swimming he studied law at the

University of Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...

and the Ruprecht-Karls University in Heidelberg. He also studied law, philosophy and literature at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

, where he passed his state examination. After that he worked as a researcher at the

Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Social Law The Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Social Law () was a research institute devoted to the field of foreign and international social law. It was one of the research institutes of the Max Planck Society. It merged with the Munich C ...

and at the Institute of Philosophy in Munich. Between 1988 and 1990 he was an editor of the newspaper ''

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

''. In 1991 he won the

Jean Améry Jean Améry (31 October 191217 October 1978), born Hans Chaim Maier, was an Austrian-born essayist whose work was often informed by his experiences during World War II. His most celebrated work, ''At the Mind's Limits: Contemplations by a Surviv ...

Award for Essay Writing. After defending his PhD in 1993 in Munich and

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

in 1997 at the

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...

he worked as university professor of law in Bielefeld, Rostock and since 2000 in Hamburg. He wrote a number of books and other publications discussing

neuroethics In philosophy and neuroscience, neuroethics is the study of both the ethics of neuroscience and the neuroscience of ethics. The ethics of neuroscience concerns the ethical, legal, and social impact of neuroscience, including the ways in which ne ...

bioethics Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biology, me ...

and

embryonic stem cell Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are Cell potency#Pluripotency, pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst, an early-stage pre-Implantation (human embryo), implantation embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4� ...

manipulations. Since April 2008, he has been a member of The Hinxton Group: An International Consortium on Stem Cells, Ethics and Law, which is based in Hinxton, UK, and Baltimore, USA. In January 2011 he was elected to the

German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (), in short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded on 1 January 1652, based on academic models in Italy, it was originally named the ''Academi ...

. He is a member of the advisory boards of the Institute for Secular Law and the Giordano Bruno Foundation. He was a member of the

German Ethics Council German Ethics Council () (Precursor from June 2001 to February 2008: National Ethics Council of Germany) is an independent council of experts in Germany addressing the questions of ethics, society, science, medicine and law and the probable conseque ...

for two terms from 2012 to 2020.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merkel, Reinhard 1950 births 21st-century German philosophers German ethicists Living people German male medley swimmers Olympic swimmers for West Germany West German male swimmers German philosophers of law Swimmers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Academic staff of the University of Hamburg German male writers Summer World University Games medalists in swimming FISU World University Games bronze medalists for West Germany Medalists at the 1970 Summer Universiade