research and truth

research and truth: science in the face of the challenge of "expanded reason".
seminar from group Science, Reason and Faith.
Luis Montuenga. Pamplona, June 4, 2024

Luis Montuenga Badía is Full Professor of Cell Biology at the University of Navarra and researcher Senior at research center Applied Medicine (CIMA), where he directs the laboratory LUNGSEARCH of Biomarkers and New Therapies. Dr. Montuenga is the author of more than 230 publications in the fields of Oncology and Cell Biology, has directed 23 doctoral thesis and has given numerous conferences and seminars internationally. Between 2007 and 2011 he was Vice President of research of the University of Navarra and between 2014 and 2023 he has been Dean of the School of Sciences. His research activity focuses exclusively on lung cancer, with special interest in biomarkers for early detection and prognosis, animal and cellular models of lung carcinogenesis and new therapeutic strategies based on molecular profile of lung cancer patients. During his degree program professor he has been at position of undergraduate courses and postgraduate program in the areas of Cell Biology, Histology, Biology of development, Molecular Oncology and Ethics of Science. He has always maintained an active interest in dialogue multidisciplinary.

summary

In describing the dominant culture of the 21st century, few would dispute that it has a huge technological component. Science and technology decisively influence our day-to-day lives, our ability to knowledge and our decision making. The scientific research , defined by Professor José María Albareda as "the inner life of science", has been a tremendously effective driver of cultural change and technological progress from the 17th century to the present day, and promises to continue to influence the future. In my presentation, always from the perspective of an active researcher scientist, I will initially refer to the paradoxical combination of dazzlement and a certain distrust that research arouses in some environments. I will also address some questions core topic that we scientists also ask ourselves about research and its relationship with truth: can truth be reached in the context of scientific research ? Is the truth of science the whole truth? And, even, is it true that the researcher only seeks the truth? Finally, I will focus on what the scientific research can contribute to the construction of the "expanded reason" described by Benedict XVI in various interventions, before and after his election as Pope, and in particular in his speech of September 12, 2006 at the University of Regensburg. In that speech, the Holy Father invites us to "broaden our concept of reason and its use", to overcome "the limitation that reason imposes on itself" and to "open its horizon in all its breadth".