Denis R. Alexander on Healing, Enhancement and the Human Future

The latest Cambridge Paper from the Jubilee Centre is available online here (from where a pdf can be downloaded), this one by Denis R. Alexander:

Denis R. Alexander, ‘Healing, Enhancement and the Human Future’, Cambridge Papers 28, 1 (June 2019).

Here is the summary:

‘This Paper reviews some recent examples of genetic engineering and brain science that make human technoscientific enhancement a pressing moral question. Healing and different types of enhancement are compared. Two rival world-views are considered, Transhumanism and Christianity – with contrasting visions of life after death – world-views which come to strikingly different conclusions concerning the path that leads to true human enhancement.’

Harvey McMahon on Neuroscience and Free Will

The latest Cambridge Paper from the Jubilee Centre is available online, this one by Harvey McMahon:

Harvey McMahon, ‘How Free is Our Free-Will? Reflections from a Neuroscientist’, Cambridge Papers 25, 2 (June 2016).

Here is the summary:

‘Free-will is fundamental to our sense of wellbeing, and underwrites our sense of morality, our judicial system and the Judeo-Christian faith. However, science has provided evidence that free-will may be an illusion. In this paper I explore how the brain functions as the seat of our individual free-will and how we are also part of a collective-will expressed by cultural or religious groupings. In both cases free-will is an emergent property where decisions are expressed creatively rather than simply responsively. Yet we may not be as free as we like to think, but within boundaries shaped by our individual histories, our genetics and our environment we can make decisions that determine our character, relationships and future.’

Ethics in Brief Volume 19, Nos. 1 & 2 (2013)

Two issues from Volume 19 of Ethics in Brief, published by The Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics, are now available online:

Claire Hordern, ‘Defining Death: New Pathways to Consider’, Ethics in Brief 19, 1 (2013).

By drawing on recent neurological research this article challenges some prevailing medical assumptions about the definition of death and explores some of the philosophical contours of the brain death debate.

Benjamin S. Wall, ‘Disability in the Christian Tradition: A Reader: Theological Contributions to Disability Discourse’, Ethics in Brief 19, 2 (2013).

Disability in the Christian Tradition: A Reader, edited by Brian Brock and John Swinton, is an indispensable contribution not only to the field of disability studies but also to any contemporary attempt at engaging in serious anthropological, theological, and ethical discourse. This article provides a summary sketch of the book tracing some of the issues it addresses.