Prof. Leszek Koczanowicz- “Community of Scholars – Community of Thought: The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton”
We would like to invite you to the next Interdisciplinary Scientific Seminar.
The lecture will be delivered by Prof. Leszek Koczanowicz, philosopher, cultural theorist, and political scientist, currently Professor at SWPS University.
Prof. Koczanowicz’s lecture, titled “A Community of Scholars – A Community of Thought: The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton”, is scheduled for Wednesday, November 19, 2025, in the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Building D-20, Janiszewskiego 8, Congress Hall, starting at 1:15 PM.
Admission is free, but prior registration is required via the Evenea.pl platform. Register here.
The lecture will explore the idea of interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity as essential dimensions of modern scholarship, reflecting on how the most innovative and meaningful discoveries often arise at the intersections of distinct fields. Drawing on a year spent at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton during the 2024/25 academic year, Prof. Koczanowicz will discuss how this unique institution, home over the decades to Albert Einstein, Kurt Gödel, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Erwin Panofsky, Hetty Goldman, John von Neumann, George Kennan, Hermann Weyl, Clifford Geertz, and many others, has embodied the ideal of a true community of scholars.
Founded in 1930, the IAS was envisioned as a place where researchers from diverse disciplines live and work together, fostering both formal and informal intellectual exchange that transcends disciplinary boundaries. As it approaches its centenary, the Institute remains a model for similar institutions around the world, though not yet in our own country.
Prof. Koczanowicz will address how such a community of researchers functions in practice: What are its advantages, and what challenges emerge in sustaining it? These are the central questions that will guide the lecture.
About Prof. Koczanowicz, he is a Polish philosopher, cultural theorist, and political scientist, professor at SWPS University. His work explores culture, politics, and democracy. Author of numerous books in Polish and English, he has taught at universities in Poland, the U.S., and Finland. In 2024–25, he was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
The Interdisciplinary Scientific Seminar is a series aimed at a broad audience: students, doctoral candidates, researchers, and anyone interested in expanding their knowledge. The series regularly hosts experts from diverse fields who are eager to share the results of their research and their reflections on the nature of scholarship.
