Jun 5, 2024 | News
On 3-6 June 2024 the World Congress of Bioethics #WCB2024 titled “Religion, Culture, and Bioethics” was held in Doha, Qatar, organized by the Research Center for Islamic Legislation & Ethics with the aim of exploring the intricate relationship between these fundamental elements. Prof. Fr. Joseph Tham, LC, Chair Reserach Scholar and Full Professor of Bioethics at the Faculty of Bioethics of the Pontifical Atheneaum Regina Apostolorum, participated in the conference with a short oral about ‘Religion, Polarisation and: A Post-Modern Critique’.
Religion, Polarisation and: A Post-Modern Critique
Joseph Tham and Allister Lee
Abstract
In the contemporary milieu of bioethical discussions, religion is often suspected of being irrational, sectarian and polemical. Thus, bioethical reasoning is best performed with neutral philosophical or pragmatic methods to avoid contentions and polarizations generally perceived with religion. From its founding inspiration in the 70s, where theology plays an important role, bioethics soon turned secular, displacing theology with legal, philosophical or pragmatic approaches. At the same time, secular bioethics is sometimes inadequate and too “thin” to address the “thicker” questions of life, death, illness, well-being, mortality and immortality. With the advance of global bioethics, can we still ignore religion? Could religious approaches enrich the bioethical conversation? How can religions engage bioethics in the globalized and public space? In an exchange between secular philosopher Jurgen Habermas and Catholic thinker Josef Ratzinger, the late Pope Benedict XVI both acknowledged that an extremist religious view unhinged from reason would result in fundamentalism and polarization. At the same time, a solely secular approach could also reduce ethics into a battleground of the “will to power” and will not avoid polarized positions either. This paper will examine polarized positions in bioethical debates and offer a post-modern critique to enrich the dialogue between religious and secular bioethics.
Jun 4, 2024 | News
Dr Lílian Santos, Professor of Bioethics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolurm and Research Scholar at the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and Human Rights, gave a conference on May 23rd at ‘Research Land’, the largest clinical research event in Mexico, organised by APEIC.
Dr Santos presented case studies and recent news on the use of new technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9, wearable devices and chips, also considered trends such as cyborgs, DYI and biohackers, with an emphasis on their effects on clinical research ethics.
Research ethics is a constantly evolving field, especially in light of the challenges posed by new technologies. Ethics is not identifiable with technical possibility nor with the legislation of the moment. In her lecture, Dr. Lílian Santos explained the main models of bioethics (utilitarianism, principalism and personalism) along with their respective principles. She also spoke about the triangular method of bioethics, which comprises scientific data, evaluative anthropological analysis and ethical-normative elaboration.
In conclusion, research ethics requires a delicate balance between technological progress and human values. The triangular method and the principles of Personalist Bioethics provide a moral compass so that new technologies can be developed and applied in a responsible and human-friendly way.
See the full presentation here.
Apr 16, 2024 | News
Prof. Fr. Michael Baggot, LC, Chair Research Scholar and Assistant Professor of Faculty of Bioethics, has been named a Fellow of “Medical Ethics: Transhumanism and the Body” program at the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at University of Southern California. The Institute will gather scholars in Los Angeles twice a year for two years. During the two years they will also carry out remote collaboration on research projects.
Mar 27, 2024 | News
On March 23rd, 2024, Prof. Fr. Michael Baggot, LC, Research Scholar of the Chair and Professor of the Faculty of Bioethics, was one of the keynote speakers at a day conference organised by the Edinburgh chapter of the Thomistic Institute and the Albertus Institute titled “Evolution and Theism” which was held at New College of the University of Edinburgh.
Prof. Fr. Baggot presented a paper titled “Beyond Natural Selection: The Human-Driven Future of Technological Evolution”. He began his talk by presenting the various aspects of the contemporary transhumanist movement which provided participants with a comprehensive view of the subject, where he went on to highlight some of its philosophical limitations. Drawing on Thomistic thought, Prof. Fr. Baggot then emphasised the importance of virtue in discerning how to properly take advantage of the positive elements of emerging technologies and its capacity in improving our lives. Finally, he concluded his presentation by urging for a recovery of “Catholic transhumanism” which aims for a “qualitative elevation rather than a mere quantitative extension of this life”.
