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 Cell Biology at the University of Navarra and researcher at research center Applied research center (CIMA), where he directs the laboratory for Biomarkers and New Therapies. Dr. Montuenga is the author of more than 230 publications in the fields of Oncology and Cell Biology, has supervised 23 thesis , and has delivered numerous lectures and seminars internationally. From 2007 to 2011, he served research Vice President research the University of Navarra, and from 2014 to 2023, he has served Dean the School of Science. His research focuses exclusively on lung cancer, with a special interest in biomarkers for early detection and prognosis, animal and cellular models of lung carcinogenesis, and new therapeutic strategies based on the profile of lung cancer patients. During his degree program position professor position undergraduate and postgraduate program the areas of Cell Biology, Histology, development Biology, Molecular Oncology, and Ethics of Science. He has always maintained an active interest in multidisciplinary dialogue.

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".