METIS. The Internet Portal for Wisdom Literature and Wisdom Practices
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“METIS” will be an internet portal for the world literature of wisdom, providing introductory texts, classics, podcasts and pictures. The literature of wisdom traditions of different cultures is to be made accessible without presupposing any kind of anthropological essentialism, universalism or forms of Eurocentrism. To this end, the project is guided by three methodological principles: Nelson Goodman’s constitutional theory is used to interpret the concepts of the wisdom traditions as respective variants of each other with the help of hypothetical interpretive elements. Second, Wittgenstein’s procedure of “Übersichtliche Darstellung” allows us to order a diversity of phenomena and to emphasize their differences and affinities without having to prematurely assume essence definitions. Finally, we are guided by the pragmatist maxim that philosophical attempts to understand by creating certain arrangements should be devoted to texts and activities that are practically relevant for successful conduct of life and human coexistence.
We want to make wisdom literature and wisdom practices accessible to the public from as many different cultural contexts as possible in a reflected and comparative way. By “wisdom literature and wisdom practices” we mean, on the one hand, texts and often text orientated, but not necessarily linguistic activities. Those activities and texts attempt to exert an improving influence on people’s everyday lives. In this way, the project is intended to serve intercultural communication about basic problems of life. However, no common “human nature” or “structure of human life” is assumed. Rather, both will be hypothetically constructed when the texts of different cultures are systematically related to each other with the help of Nelson Goodman’s constitution theory.
The whole project will be realized on a bilingual web portal (English/German) in order to provide access to these topics also to younger people from all over the world who are no longer necessarily “book-savvy”. In addition to providing texts of the “classical” wisdom world literature, podcasts on the major wisdom traditions, on wisdom topics and practices, and on the methodology of METIS itself will be uploaded. Collections of essays on numerous topics in wisdom literature and wisdom practice (death, love, loneliness, happiness, etc.) will be found on the homepage and made available for public debate by readers via comment functions and essay contests. Likewise, the submission of topic-specific images for a diverse “photo album” of wisdom topics and wisdom practices will be made possible.
Publications on the subject
- Marchal, Kai. & Hampe, Michael (Hrsg.): external pageWeisheit. Neun Versuche, Berlin: Matthes & Seitz 2021.
- Marchal, Kai. & Hampe, Michael (Hrsg.): external pageSpecial Issue: Wisdom?, in: Philosophy East and West. A Quarterly of Comparative Philosophy, Vol. 71, Nr. 3, Honolulu: University of Hawai Press 2021.
- Marchal, Kai: external pageTritt durch die Wand und werde, der du (nicht) bist, Berlin: Matthes & Seitz 2019.
- Scobel, Gert: external pageWeisheit, über das, was uns fehlt, Köln: DuMont 2008.
- Scobel, Gert: external pageNichtDenken: Achtsamkeit und die Transformation von Körper, Geist und Gesellschaft, Berlin: NP&I 2018.
This project is supported by the Udo Keller Foundation.
