About
The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture is committed to sharing the richness of the Catholic moral and intellectual tradition through teaching, research, and public engagement, at the highest level and across a range of disciplines – both on campus at the University of Notre Dame, and as Notre Dame in the public square.
All our activities are focused on four interrelated areas:
In so doing, the de Nicola Center strengthens Notre Dame’s Catholic character on campus and brings the university’s voice into the public discussion of the most vital issues of our day.
Why Ethics and Culture?
We believe that underlying today’s modern ethical conflicts is a broader argument between complex traditions of moral thought and intellectual inquiry. Our approach to ethics, then, begins from the supposition that systematic and rational discussion of these problems must be rooted in traditions of thought and practice. Recognizing, too, that ethical issues are always in part a function of cultural formation, the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture is interested in exploring in an interdisciplinary way the formative role and ethical implications of art, literature, music, media, technology, law, science, and politics in modern society.
As a traditions-based center committed to our Catholic intellectual heritage, we welcome engagement and dialogue with all moral traditions as we grapple with the most pressing and complex questions of ethics, culture, and public policy today.