Karl Ameriks, McMahon-Hank Professor of Philosophy, has been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies. Established in 1780, the academy is a center for independent policy research that undertakes studies of complex and emerging problems in such areas as science, technology and global security; social policy and American institutions; the humanities and culture; and education.
Ameriks said he is particularly pleased to “receive an honor that has come to others at Notre Dame who have always been quite an inspiration for me—especially, of course, colleagues in my own department: Ernan McMullin, Alvin Plantinga, Alasdair MacIntyre, Phil Quinn, and Peter van Inwagen. Having anything in common with that group is enough to make anyone feel fortunate.”
In his scholarly work, Ameriks focuses on the history of modern philosophy, continental philosophy, and modern German philosophy. He has dedicated much of his research to the study of Immanuel Kant, about whom he has published multiple books, including Kant and the Historical Turn (2006) and Karl Leonhard Reinhold, Letters on the Kantian Philosophy (2005).
“There’s a nice natural connection between my own interest in European matters and Notre Dame’s distinctive European roots and international orientation,” Ameriks noted.
The 2009 Class of Fellows and Foreign Honorary Members will be inducted at a ceremony on October 10 at the academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Mass. Seventeen other Notre Dame faculty members have been elected to the AAAS. The current membership includes more than 250 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.
For more information, go to www.amacad.org.
Originally published by at newsinfo.nd.edu on April 30, 2009.