Neurosciences, Pharmaceuticals and Freedom: Anthropological and Theological Dialogue Regarding Human Dignity

Abstract

Technological advances in the different areas of Biology, Chemistry and Physics have led to a better understanding of the nervous system, especially of the brain function. This new knowledge marks our vision of what we consider biological, anthropological and spiritual. Biomedical sciences and hermeneutics broaden their interest in the brain from a disciplinary and interdisciplinary standpoint in which diverse scientific perspectives and knowledge allows us to have an integral and integrating comprehension of this field. These new inquiries also interest theology not only from an understanding of the transcendent and religious vision of life, but also from an anthropology of faith, morality and ethics. Why is moral theology interested in the brain? What connections are there between morality and the brain? A first answer can be given in the sense that the implications of faith must be sought intelligently in this dialogue, though this does not signify totally reducing it to the physiology of the brain and solely to studies in link with this aspect. The interdisciplinary bridges developed around the brain confront us with human problems that demand our attention. That is why in this article as academics and investigators in the areas of biology, theology, and philosophy, from an interdisciplinary perspective, we approach cellular and molecular mechanisms that mediate spiritual practices and how these may seem affected by specific pharmaceutical properties. At the same time, we draw on the responsibility that neuroscience must have in assuming the concept of human dignity in its reflections, with a non-reductionist attitude. It is about a reflection on the perspective of a more global anthropology involving freedom and responsibility in the presence of the breakthroughs concerning the brain. We hope that this article opens new spaces contributing along the lines of freedom, the particularity of each individual’s identity, and finally, their belonging to a human community.