Gerhold K. Becker (born 22 July 1943) is a German philosopher.
Biographical sketch
Gerhold K. Becker grew up in Bad Salzschlirf, Hesse, the eldest son of the violinist Josef Becker and his wife Agnes née Goldbach. After graduating from the humanistic high school at Fulda, he studied philosophy and theology at universities in Frankfurt/Main, Heidelberg, and Munich, with, among others, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Dieter Henrich, Hermann Krings, Robert Spaemann, Michael Theunissen, Ernst Tugendhat and Heinrich Fries, Alois Grillmeier, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Karl Rahner, Trutz Rendtorff and Eugen Biser, under whose direction he completed a summa cum laude dissertation on the thinking of Ernst Troeltsch. In 1975-1986 he taught at Munich University's Institute for Christian World View and Philosophy of Religion. During this time he met his future wife, the musicologist and concert pianist Siglind Bruhn. In January 1986 he accepted a position at the Department of Religion and Philosophy of what is now Hong Kong Baptist University. In 1987 his wife joined him in Hong Kong, where she taught for six years at The University of Hong Kong. In 1991 Becker was asked to establish Hong Kong's first Centre for Applied Ethics and become its founding director; in 1992, he was elected as an Ordinary Member to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. From 1996-2004, he served on the Hong Kong Government's Council on Human Reproductive Technology, initially as a member, then as the chairman of its Ethics Committee. Since 2004 he is a regular visiting professor at the Graduate School of Philosophy and Religion, Assumption University of Thailand, Bangkok.
Positions
1975–1980 Lecturer (), Institute of Philosophy (Institut für Christliche Weltanschauung und Religionsphilosophie), Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich 1980–1986 Assistant Professor [Akademischer Rat], Institute of Philosophy (Institut für Christliche Weltanschauung und Religionsphilosophie), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich 1986–1988 Senior Lecturer, Department of Religion and Philosophy, Hong Kong Baptist College 1988–1991 Principal Lecturer, Department of Religion and Philosophy, Hong Kong Baptist College 1991–2000 Director, Centre for Applied Ethics, Hong Kong Baptist College (as of January 1994: Hong Kong Baptist University) 1991–1995 Professor, Personal Chair of Religion and Philosophy, Hong Kong Baptist College [as of January 1994: Hong Kong Baptist University] 1995–2004 Chair Professor of Religion and Philosophy, Hong Kong Baptist University 2004–present Regular Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Philosophy and Religion, Assumption University of Thailand, Bangkok
Publications
Books (selection) Theologie in der Gegenwart. Tendenzen und Perspektiven, Pustet, 1978. . Neuzeitliche Subjektivität und Religiosität. Die religionsphilosophische Bedeutung von Heraufkunft und Wesen der Neuzeit im Denken Ernst Troeltschs, Pustet, 1982. ISBN 3-7917-0734-5. Die Ursymbole in den Religionen, Styria, 1987. . Ethics in Business and Society: Chinese and Western Perspectives (ed.), Springer, 1996. . Changing Nature’s Course: The Ethical Challenge of Biotechnology (ed. with James P. Buchanan), Hong Kong University Press, 1996. - Google Bioethics and Personhood. [The Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, Band 9/4, 1999]. ISSN 1054-6863. The Moral Status of Persons: Perspectives on Bioethics (ed.), Rodopi, 2000. - Google Responsibility and Commitment. Eighteen Essays in Honor of Gerhold K. Becker. Edited by Tze-wan Kwan. Waldkirch: Edition Gorz 2008. - Google. Festschrift.