Reinhard Merkel was born in Hof in 1950. He studied law, philosophy, and literature in Bochum, Heidelberg, and Munich, where he also completed the First and Second State Examination in Law. From 1988 to 1990 Merkel was editor of the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit" (feuilleton). In 1991 he was awarded the "Jean-Amery-Preis für Essayistik". After his PhD in Munich in 1993 and his habilitation in Frankfurt/M. in 1997 Merkel received offers of a chair at the universities of Bielefeld, Rostock, and Hamburg. From 2000 to 2015 he was professor of criminal law and philosophy of law at the University of Hamburg, and in 2008/2009 he was a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. Reinhard Merkel has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences "Leopoldina" (section: philosophy of science) since January 2011, and a member of the German Ethics Council since April 2012 (at the suggestion of the Federal Government).

Publications (selection):

Approx. 150 essays on criminal law, philosophy, philosophy of law and literature, e.g:

Nutzen und Schaden aus klinischer Forschung am Menschen  (with J. Boos, H. Raspe, B. Schöne-Seifert), 2009

Willensfreiheit und rechtliche Schuld. Eine strafrechtsphilosophische Untersuchung, 2008 (honoured as one of the "Legal Books of the Year 2008")

Intervening in the Brain. Changing Psyche and Society (with G. Boer, J. Fegert et al.), 2007

Forschungsobjekt Embryo. Verfassungsrechtliche und ethische Grundlagen der Forschung an menschlichen embryonalen Stammzellen, 2002

"Früheuthanasie" - Rechtsethische und strafrechtliche Grundlagen ärztlicher Entscheidungen über Leben und Tod in der Neonatalmedizin, 2001

Der Kosovo-Krieg und das Völkerrecht (ed.), 2000

"Zum Ewigen Frieden" - Grundlagen, Aktualität und Aussichten einer Idee von Immanuel Kant (ed. with R. Wittmann), 1991

The German articles published on ZEIT ONLINE by Reinhard Merkel can be found via this link.