From the Director
The Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study aspires to be an internationally recognized center for research, drawing colleagues not only from the United States but from across the world. Modeled after the various institutes for advanced study that exist in the world and whose prototype is the oldest one in Princeton, the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study has its specific focus on ultimate questions and on issues that transcend the divide between normative and descriptive approaches. Its starting point was the insight that the intellectual enterprise of our time is characterized by ever more narrow specialization, and, while this is indispensable, we need a counteracting force that tries to reconnect the various disciplines. Only thus can the old questions (such as questions of beauty, justice, or religion) reasonably be treated. The neglect of such questions will inevitably lead to a loss of meaning in the scientific quest.
The Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study is the first institution that scholars should consider as the place for them to work on the underlying assumptions of a discipline or when pondering the launch or completion of a major inter- or multi-disciplinary project. In short, I hope the Institute becomes one of the premier research centers in the world and the leading one that either addresses the role of religion or takes into account the questions posed by religion, especially Catholicism. In this way, the Institute seeks to have a broad, meaningful, and visible impact on the research of the University, the academy, and the world.
Welcome to this website about the Institute. If you have any questions, or need further information after visiting the site, please email me at NDIAS@nd.edu.
Sincerely,
Vittorio Hösle
