'General' Category
Who is to Blame?
Ellen Goodman is an op-ed columnist for the Boston Globe. Her nationally-syndicated column is usually thoughtful, well-written and balanced. As a liberal, she often critiques social conservative positions. I usually disagree with her, but she always gives me something to think about. That is why I am troubled by her June 5th piece, “The Myth [...]
Courage Takes Many Forms
Prestigious scholar Mary Ann Glendon is the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard, and former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican. She was informed last December that she was to receive Notre Dame’s Laetare Medal at the university’s annual Commencement exercises, a great honor that she was looking forward to. Then came the news that [...]
On Oprah, No Less!
Sometimes the truth has a way of getting out. On March 29th, Michael J. Fox and Dr. Oz were guests on the Oprah show. The topic, of course, was stem cell research. The medical expert used a real preserved brain to show the area of the midbrain affected by Parkinson’s Disease, called the substantia nigra. [...]
The Elephant in the Room
On March 9th, President Obama followed through on a campaign promise and issued an executive order. His signature overturned the ban, established in August, 2001, on government funding of embryo-destructive research. His speech at the signing ceremony was remarkable, not for his action (which was expected), but for what he didn’t say. Here’s an excerpt: [...]
The Neuhaus Legacy
Father Richard John Neuhaus died recently at the age of 72. It would be hard to overestimate the influence of this godly man and gifted academic. Fr. Neuhaus, a Lutheran pastor for 30 years, converted to Roman Catholicism in 1990, and was ordained a Catholic priest one year later by New York Cardinal John O’Connor. [...]
The End of an Era
Sometimes it takes a person from outside our society to be its most honest critic. On August 3, 2008, one such voice became silent. Alexandr Solzhenitsyn died at the age of 89 of a heart ailment. This once unknown Russian high school teacher published his first book, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, [...]
Who Am I?
In our ongoing academic debates over reproductive technologies, it is perhaps all too easy to forget the real issue: we are talking about how we treat human persons, created in God’s image, who have incalculable worth. Sometimes it is good to step back and put a face on the special children whose lives are in [...]
Eugenics Redux
The word “eugenics” comes from the Greek “eugenes,” meaning “good birth,” and the underlying ideas are quite ancient in origin. Plato argued that human baby production should be limited to people selected for certain desirable qualities, and certainly most mothers would like their sons and daughters to “marry well.” The term eugenics was actually coined [...]
What About the Soul? (11)
The CedarEthics podcast for November, 2007 is a discussion of the soul, and how this impacts our understanding of human personhood. We look back at Plato’s dialogue Phaedo, and we examine the history of the concept. We also look at the soul in Scripture. Finally, we consider a beautiful engraving by William Blake, to illustrate [...]
We Have a New Look!
The Center for Bioethics Web site has undergone a make-over. We have made a number of changes to make the site more user-friendly. CedarEthics is now home to both the CedarEthics Podcast and the Director’s blog. We include more photos of students and faculty engaging in activities related to bioethics. Academic Resources (the heart of [...]
