In a world ever more conditioned by science, the purpose of this
symposium is to reconsider the perennial question formulated by David
when he asked, “Yahweh, what is man, that you care for him?” (Ps. 144:3)
Not that science provides the sole answer to the question, but we believe
that an interdisciplinary dialogue is necessary for its deepest exploration.
In the interest of a balanced quest, which can lead to a fuller understanding
of critical issues currently confronting us that call upon our knowledge of
the human being, we need to re-examine the background of the relationship
between philosophy and science, that is, between the humanistic tradition
(which has its roots in philosophy) and the scientific tradition. Today, it
seems, there is a great need for reconciliation between these two domains.
Indeed, since Galileo launched the modern scientific revolution, science
and the humanities have become progressively detached from one another
and appear, as science has grown ever more specialized and complex, to
have reached the point of mutual incomprehension. It is useful, therefore,
to revisit the thought of Greek (Plato and Aristotle) and medieval
(St. Thomas Aquinas) philosophers of science as well as the thought of
modern philosophers (Hume, Kant, Hegel) on the one hand, and, on
the other, the thought of modern scientists, for the light this philosophic
and scientific background sheds upon the identity of humans who share
their bodies with nature but also emerge from nature. We will then turn
attention to a few central problems presented by contemporary science, as
well as the opportunities science provides for rethinking philosophical and
theological views of human beings and their place within the creation. The
issues being probed by cognitive science with its new language of neurons and synapses in relation to the classical language of intellect, desire, and
emotion are central to our topic. So, too, are ongoing discoveries about
the genetic heritage of people, which pose questions about free will and
the link between evolution and creation. Finally, there are anthropological
(and moral) considerations centred upon the time before a person’s birth
(when embryonic stem cells are available) and the time of his/her death
(when there is a ceasing of brain or heart function). It is our hope to forge
greater understanding of these three clusters of issues even as we use them
to clarify our central question: What is our knowledge of the
human being?
Under the aegis of the John Templeton Foundation, in partnership with
the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, sixteen scholars and scientists come
together at the Academy’s headquarters—Casina Pio IV in the Vatican
gardens. The venue is reflective of our hope for a reconciliation of the
scientific and humanistic traditions—and prompts us to ponder what role
religion can play in the effort. In 1922, the villa, once a summer residence
of Pope Pius IV and the meeting place of great scholars, became the seat
of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, whose origins date to the founding
of the Academy of the Lincei, the world’s first scientific academy, by
Prince Federico Cesi in 1603. Galileo was a founding member and its
acknowledged leader. |