The Full Professor José Manuel Giménez Amaya. PHOTO: Manuel Castells

José Manuel Giménez Amaya, Full Professor of Anatomy and Embryology and director of group of research 'Science, Reason and Faith' (CRYF) of the University of Navarra, defended the doctoral thesis 'La universidad en el project sapiencial de Alasdair MacIntyre' in the School Eclesiastic of Philosophy.

In his research, Professor Giménez Amaya analyzed a series of writings of the contemporary philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre on the university and the university training , from the historical-contextual point of view of his philosophical-moral project After Virtue. He focused especially on the relationship between moral fragmentation and the compartmentalization of knowledge characteristic of modern thought, which MacIntyre indicates.

This author," he explained, "links the destructuring experienced at Education with the 'fragmentation' of a life that develops as if in watertight compartments, with a striking lack of unity of meaning, orientation or purpose. The most dramatic thing is that, as this British philosopher points out, we are not able to detect this profound existential incoherence, except by the results observed in the analysis of the intellectual foundations and moral action of the society in which we live".

Coherence of each discipline in itself and in its relationship with the others.

According to the study by Professor Giménez Amaya, the Anglo-Saxon philosopher relates "the moral and cultural status of the contemporary world with the way in which the professionals of the future are prepared, and how we try to advance in the knowledge. There is more knowledge of particular aspects and progress in concrete technology, but this dispersion makes it increasingly difficult to obtain unitary answers to questions core topic".

In this sense, the director of the CRYF indicated that, from agreement with MacIntyre, "a deep coherence of each particular science or discipline must be sought, in itself and in its relation with the others. This coherence constitutes the epicenter from which the university training should be articulated".

"The true multidisciplinarity is the one that is given in oneself, trying to reach the unity of knowledge," he concluded.

The panel was composed of professors José Ignacio Murillo, Alejandro Llano, José Ángel García Cuadrado, Lluis Clavell and Sergio Sánchez-Migallón.

Photo: Manuel Castells

José Manuel Giménez Amaya has rejoined as director of group of research 'Science, Reason and Faith' (CRYF), after a stay in Rome. D. in Medicine from the Autonomous University of Madrid and PhD in Philosophy from the University of Navarra, is since 2002 Full Professor of Anatomy and Embryology at the Autonomous University of Madrid. He is also a corresponding member of the Royal Academies of Pharmacy and Medicine and author of 2 books and numerous publications in specialized journals. He has also given nearly a hundred lectures in the United States, Canada and Europe.

José Manuel Giménez Amaya is Visiting Professor of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Rome), and has made stays of research at MIT (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA), Rochester Medical School (New York, USA), the University of California at San Diego (USA), AARHUS University (Denmark) and the University of Heidelberg (Germany).