About Metis
With the METIS project for intercultural wisdom literature and wisdom practices, we would like to present the various traditions, activities, concepts and interpretations and bring them into dialogue with each other. To this end, we draw on a variety of literary, philosophical, religious and scientific debates surrounding the collective family concept of wisdom.
Reflections on wisdom revolve around ideas of a successful life and focus on the difficulties, uncertainties, illusions, etc. associated with leading a life. They all recognise basic human experiences of the illness of dying, death, dying, love, hope, fear and many more. The respective conceptual approaches may differ. However, the parallels between the experiences that are conceptualised in different ways are great. Our aim is to familiarise ourselves with culturally varied patterns of experience and concepts in order to understand each other better. We try to present the different patterns of experience and want to promote intercultural understanding, a sensitivity for “THE human” (without wanting to define it universally). Ideally, this should help us to realise our own and other people’s wisdom traditions for a better way of life. The generally limited power of texts and the great power of habit are always before our eyes. That is why we also consciously consider the practices alongside the teachings.
About Us
Initiator, Content & Consulting
Michael Hampe
Michael Hampe is Professor of Philosophy at ETH Zurich. As the initiator of this project, he is a devout critic of scientized philosophy that loses sight of the ordinary. In this context he has introduced the distinction between doctrinaire and non-doctrinaire philosophy. Hampe is interested in a philosophy that promotes an everyday life that is as free of illusions as possible, without tying this effect to complicated doctrines. His narratives further promote such a philosophy, dealing with important questions of life in an accessible manner.
Initiator, Content & Consulting
Gert Scobel
Gert Scobel is Honorary Professor of Interdisciplinarity and Philosophy at the Center for Ethics and Responsibility at Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences. The focus of his work there is on the philosophy of science, history of science, ethics, and media insofar as they deal with questions raised by the complexity of life and the use of self-learning algorithms and AI.
Gert Scobel hosts a weekly science talk on 3sat. He is host on Youtube with his program "Scobel," in which he addresses philosophical, political, and scientific questions of the day.
Gert Scobel hosts a weekly science talk on 3sat. He is host on Youtube with his program "Scobel," in which he addresses philosophical, political, and scientific questions of the day.
Interviews
Eliane Schmid
Eliane Schmid studied history, philosophy, and English literature at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich. She is now a PhD candidate at the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH), researching the development of public urban green spaces post-World War II and their influence on the formation of urban citizenship.
Content & Consulting
Andreas Kilcher
Andreas Kilcher is Professor of Literature and Cultural Studies at ETH Zurich. His focus lies on the relationship between narrative and poetic literature and the sciences, especially in the Romantic Period. An important field of research is Jewish literature, philosophy, and mysticism (Kabbalah and Hasidism, respectively) as well as their varied reception and adaptation in European intellectual history (i.e. from the Renaissance to Romanticism).
Interviews
Frederike Maas
Frederike Maas studied art history and political science at the Freie Universität Berlin and Columbia University in New York. After several years as a production assistant in the field of performing arts in Berlin, she is currently pursuing a master’s degree in ‘History and Philosophy of Knowledge’ at ETH Zurich. She works closely with Andreas Kilcher as an assistant at the Chair of Literary and Cultural Studies. She is particularly interested in aesthetic and political issues.
Content & Consulting
Kai Marchal
Kai Marchal teaches philosophy at the National Chengchi University in Taipei, focusing on classical and modern Chinese thought. He is especially interested in the practices and ways of life with which the traditional forms of knowledge (wisdom) in East Asia, some of which differ considerably from those in Europe, have been intertwined. Moreover, he has published several books that investigate how these traditional forms of knowledge have been redefined in the course of social modernization and the confrontation with Western systems of knowledge.
Interviews
Anna Morawietz
Anna Morawietz has a Master's degree in History and Philosophy of Knowledge (ETH Zurich) and works as an assistant to Michael Hampe at the Chair of Philosophy (ETH Zürich). She is interested in philosophizing with and between traditions in different languages and is currently learning Persian and Arabic.
Content & Consulting
Ulrich Rudolph
Ulrich Rudolph is Professor Emeritus of Islamic Studies at the University of Zurich. Rudolph illuminates connections between philosophy of the Greco-Latin language area and Islamic philosophy, as well as connections to Eastern traditions of thought (especially Iran and India). He is the editor of “Ueberwegs”, Philosophy in the Islamic World.
Interviewführung
Anna Angelica Ainio
Anna Angelica Ainio studied Art History, Criticism and Conservation at the University of Oxford and at University College London. She is currently pursuing a PhD in philosophy at ETH Zürich on Theodor W. Adorno and aesthetics supervised by Prof. Michael Hampe, part of the SNF project ‘Gestures of Philosophy. 50 Years of Showing Philosophy 1920-1970’. She is passionate about aesthetics, art, cultural philosophy and critical theory.
The New Metaphysical Club
Tobias Esch
Prof. Dr. Tobias Esch is a neuroscientist, health researcher and general practitioner (specialist). For many years, he has been investigating how self-healing works and how its potential can be demonstrably used for health within and outside of established medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Charité in Berlin, among others. He is also a representative of so-called "integrative medicine" or "mind-body medicine" and has written over 300 scientific papers and numerous specialist books and chapters in this field. Since 2016, he has been Director of the Institute and Chair of Integrative Healthcare and Health Promotion at Witten/Herdecke University, where he also founded the university outpatient clinic as a flagship and blueprint for the "medicine of tomorrow".
The New Metaphysical Club
Alexander Poraj-Zakiej
Alexander Poraj-Zakiej is a Zen master, religious scholar and author.
His personal and professional interests include intercultural research into the ego structure, the ego perspective associated with it and the resulting states of consciousness and behaviour, both individually and in relationships and organizations.
He is a member of the spiritual leadership at Benediktushof, a center for meditation and mindfulness, on the board of the West-Eastern Wisdom Foundation, and works as a consultant and mentor.
His personal and professional interests include intercultural research into the ego structure, the ego perspective associated with it and the resulting states of consciousness and behaviour, both individually and in relationships and organizations.
He is a member of the spiritual leadership at Benediktushof, a center for meditation and mindfulness, on the board of the West-Eastern Wisdom Foundation, and works as a consultant and mentor.
Illustration & Animation
Melanie Gerber
Melanie Gerber wurde 1997 in Bern geboren und ist eine schweizer Illustratorin und Animatorin.Sie schloss 2022 ihren Bachelor in Animation mir ihrem Kurzfilm "Diagnosis" ab und arbeitet zur Zeit als Polydesignerin 3D, Junior Colourist/Animation Assistent bei Simon's Cat, als Freelance Storyteller und Illustratorin.
Web Design
Burak Ünlü
Burak studies computer science at the ZHAW and is the newest member of the Metis project. He is responsible for the design and functionality of the website. Philosophy and many fundamental questions of life have accompanied him for as long as he can remember. He sees great opportunities and an important added value for society in the Metis project.
Freelance employee
METIS
Metis is one of Okeanos and Thetys’ daughters. She has 3000 brothers and sisters. Despite her many guises, she was recognized, impregnated, and swallowed by Zeus. Metis has been living in the man's head ever since, where she prompts wise advice, often erroneously attributed to the god. She runs our Instagram account together with Nezahualcóyotl.
Financial Support
Udo Keller Stiftung
The UDO KELLER FOUNDATION FORUM HUMANUM was established in June 2000 by Udo Keller as founder and approved by the state of Schleswig-Holstein in a decision dated June 20, 2000. The foundation wants to contribute to the promotion of the interdisciplinary dialogue between natural science and humanities as well as to the interreligious dialogue of the world religions by ideational and material support of external foundations and eligible corporations.
