Metaphysics, Ontology and the Science-Religion Debate

Workshop in Memory of Spanish Philosopher Mariano Artigas
London, 7^th to 9^th May, 2009

Abstract

Interview in
Radio Universidad de Navarra

Program and lectures

40 Experts Debate in London on Science and Religion
in Memory of Spanish Philosopher Mariano Artigas

The work of Mariano Artigas, the Spanish philosopher who has published the most in the United States, was the focus of a workshop at the Thomas More Institute.

More than 40 experts from North America and Europe met in London to discuss science and religion during an International Workshop held in memory of Mariano Artigas (1938-2006), a philosopher of the University of Navarra. The event took place at the London headquarters of the Thomas More Institute.

Karl Giberson, one of the main authors of general-interest books on this subject in the United States, and coauthor with Mariano Artigas of the book Oracles of Science (Oxford University Press), was among the experts who gave a lecture at this event. William Carroll of the University of Oxford (UK), Marie George of St. John’s University (USA), Rafael Martínez of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Italy), and Thomas Glick of Boston University (USA) were also among the lecturers at this workshop.

Some of the aspects of the science and religion debate addressed at this event were: the treatment of scientific news in the media, the relation between science and theology, and evolutionism.

Professor Santiago Collado, Secretary of the Science, Reason and Faith Research Group of the University of Navarra and member of the organizational committee of the workshop, expressed his commitment to the harmonization of science, philosophy, and religion: “The reality that science presents to our eyes is overwhelming because of its beauty and complexity. It is so overwhelming that it demands something more to be able to express it.”

In addition, he emphasized that “technology does not comprehend everything man can achieve through his knowledge of reality, and it is not possible to reduce truth to what we can do with it through technology.”

More than 20 books and 300 articles

Mariano Artigas (Zaragoza, Spain, 1939-2006) was a pioneer in the intellectual debate between science and religion in Spain as well as its most significant contributor during the last two decades. A graduate of and professor at the University of Barcelona, he consolidated his career as a scholar at the University of Navarra, where he founded, along with other professors, the Science, Reason and Faith Research Group.

His lifework, composed of more than 20 books and 300 texts -articles, introductions, collective works- has earned him numerous distinctions, among them a prize from the Templeton Foundation in 1995. His great international recognition is especially remarkable in the English speaking world.

In fact, during the last ten years of his life he published five books in prestigious American publishing houses (Oxford University Press, Johns Hopkins University Press, University Press of America, Templeton Foundation Press), which makes him the Spanish philosopher with the greatest amount of publications of this decade in the United States. Furthermore, some of his books have been translated into German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese and Korean.

Interview to Santiago Collado, Secretary of the CRYF,
in Radio Universidad de Navarra (Spanish)