Fr Joseph Tham, LC, MD, PhD
In this article, I will discuss four challenges that Catholic doctors face in the world today:
1) The secular and Catholic divide that gives rise to two contrasting visions of bioethics: the secular vision based on utilitarianism and materialism, whereas the Catholic vision is based on natural law and human dignity; 2) This divide is most evident in beginning of life issues, on the moral status of the human embryo More…
A student response to popscience in the news
by Br Brendan Matthews, LC
Does being analytical make you lose your faith? This is what the title of a recent article written published on ScienceMagazine.org seems to suggest. I would like to briefly point out the main error behind this article, namely, the confusion between thinking and believing. First let us look at two main concepts the article offers us. The first is intuitive thinking “which is fast and effortless”; the second is analytical thinking “which is slower and more deliberate.” Based on this distinction, the author draws some pretty hasty conclusions. More…
A student response to popscience in the news
by Br Carlos Valenzuela, LC
Last month, the web site ScienceMagazine.org published an article, “To Keep Your Faith, Don’t Get Analytical,” claiming that those who believe in God or accept religious belief tend to rely more on intuitive rather than in analytical thinking. In this article Gregg Miller comments on the results of an experiment made by the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. My aim in this article is to show a different perspective based on the results of the experiments, diverging from the one offered by Science Now. More…
By Br Robert Antonio, LC
Immanuel Kant writes the essay “What is Enlightenment” in response to a question posed by a Prussian official and clergyman. The historical context is 18th century Prussia, currently under the rule of the enlightened Frederick the Great. Even though he ruled despotically, Frederick the Great brought about huge political and economic reform. Five years before the French Revolution, the enlightenment was in full swing, but few would be able to predict the consequence of its ideas in the French Revolution and the subsequent Napoleonic Wars.
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
You can’t make this stuff up.
Imagine living in fear and uncertainty under the imminent threat that this could happen to you:
Whirled Peas – no pun intended
According to a recent scientific study, peas, that’s right, peas, live in communities, communicate with each other, have memories, and feel stress; therefore, we need to open the discussion concerning the ethical treatment of vegetables. More…
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Many of the questions guiding scientific investigation on the origin of life seem to disregard alternate questions that ought to be obvious. Why are they overlooked?
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What is the latest in bioethics?
Fr Joseph Tham
One of the buzzwords of bioethics in the next few decades will likely be “neuro”. When I was in medical school, we were told that little is known about how the brain works. However, neuroscience has gained a lot of knowledge in these last 30 years because of the advances of imaging techniques coupled with powerful computer technology.
The tremendous progress on understanding how the human brain works can revolutionize our comprehension of ourselves and our society. Hence, there are important ethical implications on how to apply this new knowledge. More…
Last May, I was invited to give a talk on this topic at the Faith and Leadership Conference, organized by Renewal in the Spirit Community in Hong Kong. At first, it seems like an odd question. It is evident that science and scientists needs to be ethical in their research and their work. One only needs to recall the haunting images of the atomic bomb explosions over Japan and the Nazi doctors forcing experimentations on concentration camp prisoners. Science can certainly offer many important advantages to improve our lives, but if it ignores ethics, it could also be used against humanity. More…
“This may sound odd, but according to the laws of nature concerning gravity and motion, laws that are among the oldest in science, space itself is a vast store of negative energy – enough to ensure that everything adds up to zero. I’ll admit that unless mathematics is your thing, this is hard to grasp, but it’s true.”
This is a quote from Steven Hawking More…
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