Research

Colloquies & Labs

Since 1995, the Institute has been driven by a concern for understanding the contemporary world in light of the problem of the "good," of searching for common ground through our deep differences and in light of our shared ideals. As such, our research aims to provide better accounts of human flourishing under the conditions of late Western modernity.

The Institute looks at the fundamental dynamics—the deep structures—of contemporary culture. We examine the mostly implicit frameworks of meaning and moral order that define reality in our society—the distinctions between good and evil, right and wrong, the important and the unimportant, character and cowardice; the ideals we should embrace; the practices we should reject. Within an interdisciplinary community, the Institute conducts both theoretical and empirically grounded research in major realms of social life. Our interdisciplinary research is organized into six Colloquies that are providing answers to the most significant questions of our time about the human person, community, and language. Our three Phenomenology Labs attempt to understand how people are grappling with cultural change at the level of lived experience.