Metzinger was born in 1958. He studied philosophy, ethnology, and theology at the University of Frankfurt. In 1985 he finished his PhD on the mind-body problem. In 1992 he received his habilitation at the Justus Liebig University Giessen. He was appointed professor of the philosophy of cognitive science at the University of Osnabrück in 2000. A short time later he moved to the University of Mainz.

His research interests include the following areas: Analytical philosophy of the mind; philosophy of science; philosophical problems of neuro- and cognitive sciences and psychology; theory of science and philosophical problems of artificial intelligence research; history of the body-mind-problem after the Second World War; and newer theories of the mind, especially of phenomenal consciousness and mental representation.

It is particularly noteworthy that Thomas Metzinger's approach has not only stimulated academic debate on the "theory of mind", but that his ideas are increasingly expanding into everyday awareness. In 2011 a heavy metal band released an album that explores Metzinger's classic "Being No One".

Publications (selection):

• 1985: Neuere Beiträge zur Diskussion des Leib-Seele-Problems. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main
• 1993: Subjekt und Selbstmodell. Die Perspektivität phänomenalen Bewußtseins vor dem Hintergrund einer naturalistischen Theorie mentaler Repräsentation. mentis, Paderborn
• 2003: Being No One. The Self-Model Theory of Subjectivity. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• 2006: Grundkurs Philosophie des Geistes – Band 1: Phänomenales Bewusstsein mentis, Paderborn
• 2007: Grundkurs Philosophie des Geistes – Band 2: Das Leib-Seele-Problem mentis, Paderborn
• 2009: The Ego Tunnel - The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self Basic Books, New York
• 2010: Grundkurs Philosophie des Geistes – Band 3: Intentionalität und mentale Repräsentation mentis Paderborn
• 2016: (ed. with Jennifer M. Windt): Open MIND – Philosophy and the Mind Sciences in the 21st Century
• 2017: (with Wanja Wiese): Philosophy and Predictive Processing

Website:

http://www.philosophie.uni-mainz.de/metzinger/