Texts, articles and reviews with label: 'technical'.
Recent
Gene editing: potential and ethical considerations
summaryGene editing: We are currently able to change the sequence of genomes. This session reviews the molecular foundations of gene editing, its current and forthcoming technical possibilities, and the philosophical and ethical issues it raises.
Author: Ujué Moreno
Nature conservation and dynamics of the sacred
summaryThe sacred can include natural environments, which are often associated with places of worship and are deserving of special respect; they often coincide with nature reserves. The interrelationships between religion, conservation and management of these environments are examined.
Author: Jaime Tatay
Science, reason and faith in Blaise Pascal
summaryPascal was a genius, sincere and constant search engine of the truth. He was passionate about the scientific novelties of his time. He had a deep religious conversion, which he wanted to transmit and which resulted in The Thoughts. His vindication of "the reasons of the heart" is classic.
Author: Juan Luis Lorda
The contemporary desire for a technified salvation 
summaryAging must be seen in the context of the whole of human life. The current reductive vision does not see the natural purpose of corporeal life, and thinks that the physical aspect of man must be technically optimized, leading to a human void.
Authors: Jorge Martín Montoya, José Manuel Giménez Amaya
Biomedical research and personalised medicine in heart failure
summaryHeart failure, which is common after heart attacks, is a serious health problem. Despite its seriousness, its research is not as well developed as in other fields. Various approaches to research in this field, and their ethical implications, are explained.
Author: María de Ujué Moreno
Neuromorphic Computing and Nanotechnologies
summaryNeuroscience knowledge can be combined with new nanotechnology techniques to build systems that capture and compute by mimicking the brain; this "neuromorphic computing" is a promising area of Artificial Intelligence advances.
Author: Bernabé Linares-Barranco
Expertise as a methodological and ethical problem
summaryThe assumption is that scientific expertise transforms knowledge into "capacity to act". The lecture analyses two problems in expert opinions: the use of data and the possibility of a recommendation for action without naturalistic fallacy.
Author: Agnieszka Lekka-Kowalik
The future of human being: neuroscientific and philosophical perspectives
summaryThe vision of humanity's future is currently shaped by science and technology. This is not only a contemporary conditioning of our thinking, but a deeper limitation to our correct understanding of what it means to be human.
Author: Saša Horvat
Ethics for machines: how to teach your robot to behave itself
summaryCan we teach ethics to machines? Artificial intelligence is explained, and how a computational system can modify its behaviour by learning from the environment, or from human beings.
Author: Gonzalo Génova.
summaryPhilosophical reflection on some fundamental dimensions of creativity: it concludes that there are no compelling reasons to differentiate between scientific and artistic creativity and examines the possibility of creativity through artificial intelligence.
Author: Carlos Blanco
Ecological sensitivity (and Christianity?)
summaryThe sensitivity for the environment does not seem to go hand in hand with Christianity. This seminar reflects from seven aspects of the environmental value and initiates a search of how, starting from those aspects, it is possible to establish a meeting with Christianity.
Author: Jordi Puig.
Climate change: What do we know and how do we respond?
summaryThe precautionary principle encourages us to take action on this issue. The precautionary principle encourages us to take action on this issue, but we continue to act as if it is not happening. Here we show the scientific instructions of the problem and its ethical implications.
Author: Emilio Chuvieco.
The Antikythera mechanism: Greeks amaze again
summary: Description of finding of the Antikythera mechanism, explanation of its main functions and review of the consequences for the history of technology and astronomy, and implications for the philosophy of science. .
Author: Christián Carlos Carman
Techno-optimism: near future or false promise? 
summaryTechnological utopia argues that, thanks to technology, humanity will eventually reach an ideal life in which the problems that limit it today will disappear. These ideal conditions include a state of abundance in which - according to these thinkers - social problems would also disappear. It would also be possible to design conscious machines and communicate efficiently with them. Moreover, life technologies could overcome disease and delay ageing: in its most extreme version, techno-optimism promises to overcome death itself. This discussion paper reviews the main promises of techno-optimism and their implications, pointing out the limitations of its assumptions and the need for reflection to guide and control future technological developments.
Author: Sara Lumbreras
Pastoral aspects of the influence of science on contemporary culture
summaryIn the context of the modern development of science, the paper rephrases the basic questions, which can be reduced to three. The first concerns the value of experimental science as knowledge of reality. The second concerns the power that science provides to dominate nature. And the third, to the possible relations between science and transcendence, which proves that they can be maintained within scientific progress.
Author: Mariano Artigas
From the information society to the knowledge society knowledge
Author: Pablo García Ruiz
From the information society to the society of knowledge II
Author: Pablo García Ruiz
summary speech : of the Pope to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on the occasion of the beginning of the 2010 plenary session, commenting on the partial nature of scientific progress and the need for philosophical reflection as an indispensable complement to science.
Author: Holy Father Benedict XVI
summaryReview of the different manifestations of current scientism: Scientism in epistemology, scientistic naturalism, physicist scientism, biologist scientism, technicist scientism and scientism in public opinion.
Author: Mariano Artigas
The great challenge of the (Catholic) university
Author: Sergio Sánchez-Migallón and José Manuel Giménez Amaya
Respect for human life until natural death
Author: José María Pardo
Author: María Iraburu
Towards a sustainable management of the planet
Author: Luis Echarri
Table of contents of the book 'Science, Reason and Faith'.
summaryComplete index of Mariano Artigas' book 'Ciencia, Razón y Fe'. Pamplona: Eunsa, 2004.
Author: Mariano Artigas
The ambiguity of "neuroethics".
summary lecture : conference delivered at the Closing Ceremony of the Master's Degree in Bioethics. Universidad Católica San Antonio (Murcia), 21 January 2011.
Author: Sergio Sánchez-Migallón
summary article on the origin and contents of neuroethics: scientific meetings core topic and positions of Adina L. Roskies, Judy Illes, Martha Farah, Thomas Fuchs, Walter Glannon, Jonathan Moreno and Neil Levy.
Author: Sergio Sánchez-Migallón Granados and José Manuel Giménez Amaya
Rescher and Gadamer: two complementary views on the limits of science
summaryAnalysis of Rescher's and Gadamer's views on the limits of science: the former studies the internal limits and the latter the external ones.
Author: Alfredo Marcos. University of Valladolid (Spain)
Science and Philosophy: A Love-Hate Relationship
summaryIn this paper I review the problematic relationship between science and philosophy; in particular, I will address the question of whether science needs philosophy, and I will offer some positive (if incomplete) perspectives that should be helpful in developing a synergetic relationship between the two. I will review three lines of reasoning often employed in arguing that philosophy is useless for science: a) philosophy's death diagnosis ('philosophy is dead') and what follows from it; b) the historic-agnostic argument/challenge "show me examples where philosophy has been useful for science, for I don't know of any"; c) the division of property argument (or: philosophy and science have different subject matters, therefore philosophy is useless for science). These arguments will be countered with three contentions to the effect that the natural sciences need philosophy. I will: a) point to the fallacy of anti-philosophicalism (or: 'in order to deny the need for philosophy, one must do philosophy') and examine the role of paradigms and presuppositions (or: why science can't live without philosophy); b) point out why the historical argument fails (in an example from quantum mechanics, alive and kicking); c) briefly sketch some domains of intersection of science and philosophy and how the two can have mutual synergy. I will conclude with some implications of this synergetic relationship between science and philosophy for the liberal arts and sciences.
Author: Sebastian de Haro
Society, Science and Faith: A Physicist's Perspective
summary: To say that today there is a crisis of faith and that the scientific and technical development influences this crisis is nothing new. knowledge If, as the First Vatican Council affirms, "reason and faith are two sources of Truth, one revealed and the other coming from observation", we should not find opposition between them. However, in fact, the controversy exists. The Second Vatican Council insisted again on the topic with great emphasis, as circumstances were aggravated during the 20th century by conflicts with positivism and materialism. The spread of Marxism turned the polemic into an important social phenomenon, and its consequences have not disappeared with the decline of Marxism. The polemic, which until a few decades ago for people of faith consisted in answering the accusation that religion is "the opium of the people", has led, with the healthy increase of tolerance, to a religious indifference that finds its best environment in the urban culture of the big cities.
Author: Héctor L. Mancini
summaryExplanation of the technique of cloning by nuclear transfer, its possible animal and human applications, including 'therapeutic' cloning and ethical reflections.
Author: María Iraburu
Assumptions and implications of scientific progress
summaryThe methods and results of experimental science play a very important role in shaping contemporary culture. They are sometimes used to support naturalistic doctrines that dispense with divine action because they consider it impossible or useless in the light of scientific progress. In the reflections that follow I suggest that the analysis goal of that progress rather leads to the opposite conclusion. More specifically, I argue that the analysis of the assumptions and implications of scientific progress leads to a perspective that is fully consistent with the affirmation of a personal creator God, with the recognition of the spiritual dimensions of the human person, and with the existence of ethical values related to the objective search for truth and service to humanity.
Author: Mariano Artigas
Three levels of interaction between science and philosophy
summaryThe epistemological level, the ontological level, the anthropological level.
Author: Mariano Artigas
summaryLife extension methods promoted by the transhumanist movement, especially mind transfer; the secularist matrix of this method is sample . Its attempt to bring immortality under human control takes the process of secularisation to a level never seen before.
Author: Leandro Gaitán