A rational discourse can connect architecture with other disciplines both in the University and in the civil and sacred life of the polis and its citizens, disciplines which provide other, complementary understandings of that which is true, for example, in justice pursued through civil discourse and law, in the exploration of the natural world through the physical sciences, in the human search for meaning and community through the arts, through letters, and in religion. And reason lifts architecture from the level of a merely personal act to that of a civic, cultural, ethical act and mediates between the legacy of tradition and the promise of innovation. Memory is embodied in tradition. Tradition brings into play the experience of the past in integrating the three realms constituting architecture, namely, the technical, the formal, and the civil. The traditions of the art of building or of technology inform us about how we might build, what materials we might use, and how we might use these in different circumstances and in different times.
Tradition guides the making of buildings and settings toward the ends of civil life.
And tradition brings a legacy of architectural form from which we draw and to which we add. Our personal gifts are our individual endowments, given by God and cultivated by study, practice, and learned guidance. In that study we not only develop the gifts but we also learn to guide their use by reason and memory and to integrate intellectual and manual work. We believe that this emphasis on the integration of reason, memory, and the individual s unique gifts and the important role of tradition in guiding the architect confronting present contingencies sets Notre Dame s program apart from most others. Here, individuals are encouraged to respond to the imperative to embody a civil purpose in their work and to manifest moral responsibility in their conduct.