Presentation of the Paris IAS

A Paris Institute for Advanced Study

Paris needed to have an institute for advanced study, and now it does. The "Association for the Institute for Advanced Study-Paris”, on 1 January 2011, marked the official start of this new institution. The decisive role played by Paris in the history of the humanities and social sciences, along with the wealth and timely diversity of its research institutions (now in the larger framework of the Île-de-France region) obviously forms a context that is particularly favourable to the development of an institution for hosting excellent researchers. These dimensions not only outline the appeal of Paris, but also signify essential factors for stimulating research. For enriching, vibrant science requires confrontation and dialogue. The Paris IAS is an open institution that knows no national borders or disciplinary barriers.

The Paris IAS, as both an instrument and an actor in the humanities and social sciences, has thus been built as a meeting place for knowledge and researchers from many disciplines. Open to the pluralistic approach in terms of research perspectives and methods that should characterise the humanities and social sciences, it must define itself first and foremost as an area for inspiration, as well as innovation, as the Paris IAS institutional independence and its refusal to be restricted to particular disciplines undoubtedly favour the risk-taking that is the prerequisite for all true scientific advances. Dedicated to the humanities and social sciences, its role is to promote their possible interconnections while avoiding setting the supposed “traditional culture” of the humanities up against the social sciences’ “proper” scientific approach. Armed with the outstanding intellectual wealth of its location, it cannot be enclosed in any specific theme, and its domain is obviously vast, ranging from philology to economics, without neglecting legal science and nowadays cognitive science. The Paris IAS, a sort of “detached” intelligence, is free from all scientific preconceptions and management categories. Hence it is perfectly able to act as a crucial vigil for picking out the trends at work in humanities and social science research, for thinking about their future and opening up possible paths for their development.

This openness must also fit with its time. While the Paris IAS must be present in the process of thinking about the major challenges faced by science, it cannot be absent from the key debates on the concrete problems facing modern societies. Durkheim famously said that science would not be worth an hour of one’s trouble if it did not ultimately improve how our societies function and enhance humankind’s ability to take its destiny in hand. This comment is now more timely than ever. There is nothing incongruous in promoting a broad conception of the sciences, which must both continue their own internal development and consider their applications to the world’s problems. Admittedly, the objective is not to change the world, but at the very least to participate in understanding it and in explaining the mechanisms that make it work. Strong sciences, underpinned with robust paradigms, are also useful sciences. We must not forget Rudolf von Ihering’s pithy quote: “Science, to be practical, must not limit itself to practice alone”. As such, we must reject the belief that the humanities and social sciences are destined never to reach maturity and can only be grounded in an impoverished conception of causality. Naturally far removed from any immediately practical purpose, our hope is that IAS of Paris can contribute, even modestly, to building an intelligence of the present – this would already be a substantial accomplishment.

While the Paris IAS musttake on the glorious heritage of an intellectual history that it did not create, its aim is to contribute fully to the development and diffusion of the humanities and social sciences. This defines its ambition, its programme and also its responsibility.

Patrice Duran

Director of the Paris IAS

Professor at the "École Normale Supérieure de Cachan"