Zeitgeist

Every Annual Forum begins by capturing the Zeitgeist and framing a guiding question. The focus is not on the headlines of the day, but on the fundamental questions that shape our time.

What you call the spirit of the times
Is, at bottom, the gentlemen’s own spirit,
In which the times are mirrored.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust. Der Tragödie erster Teil, ll. 575–577 (our translation)

“Anyone who gives themselves over entirely to the Zeitgeist is a poor wretch. The eternal avant-garde’s craving for innovation has something emasculating about it.”

Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Der Spiegel, interview, 2003 (our translation)

How is the Zeitgeist determined?

At the Founding Colloquium 2027, the founding members jointly determine the Zeitgeist — the guiding question that captures the most important economic, political and social challenges of the coming year. Through a structured deliberative process, this becomes the substantive foundation of the Sensus Communis Annual.

1. i.
   Founding Colloquium / AnnualConcludes with the results for the Sensus Communis Papers and open guiding questions.
2. ii.
   Inquiry SeasonFurther topic proposals are gathered.
3. iii.
   CurationThe strongest topics are selected.
4. iv.
   PrioritisationDiscursive distillation within the circle of curating fellows.
5. v.
   ZeitgeistThe guiding question is set. The seminar is aligned with it. The Sensus Communis Annual Forum has its theme.

The Zeitgeist is the common thread of the entire forum year and shapes the whole Sensus Communis of that year.