Günter Altner (20 September 1936 – 6 December 2011) was a German interdisciplinary active scientist, biologist, Protestant theologian, ecologist, environmentalist, writer and lecturer.
[3] He also was member of the scientific advisory council of the Institut Mensch, Ethik und Wissenschaft (IMEW)[2][3] and reflected on the positions taken by the Evangelical Church in Germany regarding questions of nuclear energy, responsibility towards creation and peace policy.
As professor emeritus he moved to Berlin, where he took up contact with the Hans Jonas-Institute among others, providing for example the intellectual inspiration for a symposium to take place with Karl-Otto Apel in 2010.
Altner played a relevant role in the discourse in Germany thanks to his interdisciplinary academic background and his expertise both in ecology and in the theological reflection on environmental ethics.
In particular, biologist Brian Goodwin dedicated part of the last chapter of his book How the Leopard Changed its Spots to Altner's views on the human responsibility for creation and on rights to be attributed to nature.