Gerhold K. Becker

Gerhold K. Becker (* 22 July 1943 in Bad Salzschlirf,Hesse) is a German philosopher.

Biographical Sketch

Gerhold K. Becker grew up in Bad Salzschlirf, the eldest son of theviolinist Josef Becker and his wife Agnes née Goldbach. Aftergraduating from the humanistic high school at Fulda, he studiedphilosophy and theology at universities in Frankfurt/Main,Heidelberg, and Munich, with, among others, Hans-Georg Gadamer,
Dieter Henrich, Hermann Krings, Robert Spaemann, MichaelTheunissen, Ernst Tugendhat and Heinrich Fries, AloisGrillmeier, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Karl Rahner, TrutzRendtorff and Eugen Biser, under whose direction hecompleted a summa cum laude dissertation on the thinking of ErnstTroeltsch. In 1975-1986 he taught at Munich University’s Institute forChristian World View and Philosophy of Religion. During this time hemet his future wife, the musicologist and concert pianist Siglind Bruhn. In January 1986 he accepted a position at the Department ofReligion and Philosophy of what is now Hong Kong Baptist University. In1987 his wife joined him in Hong Kong, where she taught for six yearsat The University of Hong Kong. In 1991 Becker was asked to establishHong Kong’s first center for applied ethics and become its foundingdirector; in 1992, he was elected as an Ordinary Member to the
European Academy of Sciences and Arts. From 1996-2004, he served onthe 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 ofPhilosophy and Religion, Assumption University of Thailand, Bangkok.

Positions

* 1975-1980 Lecturer [Wissenschaftlicher Assistent] , 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 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
* since 2004 Regular Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Philosophy and Religion, Assumption University of Thailand, Bangkok

Book publications (selection)

*"Theologie in der Gegenwart. Tendenzen und Perspektiven", Pustet, 1978. ISBN 3-7917-0557-1.
*"Neuzeitliche Subjektivität und Religiosität. Die religionsphilosophische Bedeutung von Heraufkunft und Wesen der Neuzeit im Denken Ernst Troeltschs", Pustet, 1982. ISBN3-7917-0734-5.
*"Die Ursymbole in den Religionen", Styria, 1987. ISBN 3-222-11732-2.
*"Ethics in Business and Society: Chinese and Western Perspectives" (ed.), Springer, 1996. ISBN 3-540-60773-0.
*"Changing Nature’s Course: The Ethical Challenge of Biotechnology" (ed. with James P. Buchanan), Hong Kong University Press, 1996. ISBN 962-209-403-1.
*"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. ISBN 978-90-420-1201-1.

Essays (selection, since 2002)

*“The Ethics of Prenatal Screening and the Search for Global Bioethics,” "Cross-Cultural Perspectives on the (Im)Possibility of Global Bioethics", ed. by Julia Tao Lai Po-wah. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers 2002, 105-130.
*“Moral Education in China and the ‘West’: Ideals and Reality in Cross-cultural Perspective,” "Chinese Ethics in a Global Context: Moral Bases of Contemporary Societies", ed. by Karl-Heinz Pohl & Anselm W. Müller. Sinica Leidensia LVI, Leiden: Brill (October 2002), 245-278.
*“Ethical Issues in the Modernization of China,” [Polish tr.: “Etyczne problemy moderniyacji Chin,” in "China: Social and Political Development at the Threshold of the 21st Century", ed. by Karin Tomala [Chiny: Rozwoj Spoleczenstwa i Panstwa na przelomie XX i XXI wieku] . Warsaw: Trio Publishers, 2003, 49-94.
*“Chinese Ethics and Human Cloning: A View from Hong Kong,” "Cross-Cultural Issues in Bioethics. The Example of Human Cloning", ed. by Heiner Roetz. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi 2006, 107-139.
*“Divided Loyalties: The Moral Basis of Peace in a Multicultural World of Conflict and Humiliation,” "Understanding Conflict and Approaching Peace in Southern Thailand", ed. by Imtiyaz Yusuf/Lars Peter Schmidt. Bangkok: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung 2006, 240-280.

External links

* [http://arts.hkbu.edu.hk/~rel/stafflist/cvs/becker.htm Complete bibliography of the writings of Gerhold K. Becker]