[1][2] Professor emeritus at the University of Munich, Puntel was named as one of the great contemporary philosophers, articulating his ideas from the most varied traditions.

[3][4][5][6] Puntel studied philosophy, theology, philology and psychology in Munich, Innsbruck, Vienna, Paris, and Rome.

He was a student of Karl Rahner and studied with Martin Heidegger, whose philosophy concerned him throughout his life.

Puntel drew on sources ranging from G. W. Leibniz, German idealism, Heidegger's phenomenology, and even analytic philosophy.

Retired in 2001, in 2016, he received an honorary doctorate from the Munich School of Philosophy.