Michael Quante is one of the most influential contemporary German philosophers. He is a professor and prorector at the University of Münster. His work focuses on fundamental research on Hegel, Marx, human rights, the social state, and modern ethical issues.

Michael Quante was born in 1962 in Senden, Germany. In 1992, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Westphalian Wilhelm University of Münster for his dissertation titled“Hegel’s Concept of Action”. In 2001, he completed his habilitation at the same university with a study on “Personal Identity as a Principle of Bioethics.”

He held professorships at the Universities of Duisburg-Essen (2003–2005) and Cologne (2005–2009). Since 2009, he has been a full professor of practical philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Westphalian Wilhelm University in Münster.

Professor Quante is a speaker at the Center for Bioethics (Zentrum für Bioethik), a member of the Center for Advanced Studies in Bioethics, and a leading researcher in the high-level research cluster “Religion and Politics” (all at the University of Münster). From 2004 to 2011, he served as an associate editor of the international journal Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, and since 2012 he has been a co-editor of the journal Hegel Studien.

His research interests include German Idealism (especially the philosophy of Hegel and Marx), action theory, personal identity, ethics, and bioethics. He is the author of approximately 30 books and more than 150 scholarly articles.

His major publications include: “Hegel’s Concept of Action” (Cambridge University Press, 2004; paperback edition 2007), “Enabling Social Europe” (Springer, 2005, co-authored with Bernd von Maydell et al.), “Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit” (Cambridge University Press, 2008, co-edited with Dean Moyar), “Moral Realism” (Helsinki, 2004, co-edited with Jussi Kotkavirta), and “Pragmatic Idealism” (Rodopi, 1998, co-edited with Axel Wustehube).