Ursula BAATZ

Research Fellow (2023–2025)

Ursula Baatz received her doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Vienna with a thesis on Martin Heidegger (Dr. phil. 1982). Her work focuses on the reception of Buddhism that relates to the emergence of an “industrialised consciousness” with related articles addressing the psychology of perception, Ernst Mach's receptoin of Buddhism, and Giacinto Scelsi's reception of Asia. From 1984 until 2003, she held the first teaching fellowship on Non-European Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy, University of Vienna. Moreover, she also held teaching fellowships in Didactics of Ethics Teaching (2002–2016) and Religious Studies (1994–1996, Faculty of Protestant Theology, University of Vienna; 2011–2012, Faculty of Catholic Theology, University of Graz). Since 2016, she has been a Teaching Fellow in Intercultural Philosophy at the University of Klagenfurt. She is a founding member and founding president (1996) of the Vienna Society for Intercultural Philosophy, as well as a founding member (1998) of Polylog. Zeitschrift für Interkulturelles Philosophieren, of which she is also a member of the editorial board. Her numerous book publications on Buddhism and Zen practice in a Christian context, include, among others, Hugo M. Enomiya-Lassalle. Leben zwischen den Welten. Eine Biographie (Benziger 1998) and Erleuchtung trifft Auferstehung, Zen-Buddhismus und Christentum. Eine Orientierung (Theseus-Verlag 2009). More recent books include Spiritualität, Religion, Weltanschauung. Landkarten für systemisches Arbeiten. Mit Geleitworten von Matthias Varga von Kibéd und Saskia Wendel (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2017) and Achtsamkeit. Der Boom. Hintergründe, Perspektiven, Methoden (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2023). As an editor at ORF/Ö1 (1990–2011), the communication of Religious Studies research was a central part of her work. As a Research Fellow at the Department of Religious Studies, she will conduct research on the influence of Buddhist meditation practices in psychotherapy.