Etienne Vermeersch

Etienne Vermeersch
Vermeersch in 2003
Born	Etienne Vermeersch (1934-05-02) 2 May 1934 (age 82) Sint-Michiels, Bruges, Belgium
Nationality	Belgian
Alma mater	Ghent University
Website	http://www.etiennevermeersch.be
Era	20th-century philosophy
Region	Western Philosophy
Institutions	Ghent University
Main interests	Philosophy of science, Bioethics, Environmental philosophy, Moral philosophy, Cultural philosophy

Etienne Vermeersch (born May 2, 1934 in Sint-Michiels (nowadays part of Bruges)) is a Belgian (moral) philosopher, skeptic, opinion maker and debater. He is one of the founding fathers of the abortion and euthanasia law in Belgium. He is also former Vice-Rector of the Ghent University.

Vermeersch became an atheist after five years with the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). He broke with his belief when he was 25, like most of his colleagues at the time. Later he became a philosophical materialist. In the 1990s there was some commotion in the Belgian media when Vermeersch wrote a rational-scientific article entitled 'Why the Christian God cannot exist'.

In January 2008, Vermeersch was chosen by hundred prominent Flemings as the most influential intellectual of Flanders.

Etienne Vermeersch has an MA in classical philology and in philosophy. In 1965 he obtained his PhD on the philosophical implications of information theory and cybernetics at Ghent University, Belgium. He became a professor at Ghent University in 1967 and taught introductory courses in philosophy and in the philosophy of science, as well as courses in 20th-century philosophy and in philosophical anthropology.