Posted at 12:00 p.m
Lea Carrier The Press
Is access to green spaces in the city a right? How far will we go to improve human skills?
Our technological advances raise complex questions. A new microprogram offered at the Université Laval attempts to answer them.
“We are in a phase of very strong intellectual boiling and the search for benchmarks,” notes Marie-Hélène Parizeau, professor at the Faculty of Humanities.
Hence the interest in establishing this unprecedented training with Cory-Andrew Labrecque, Professor and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies.
The idea came up during the pandemic. Is access to green in the city a right? A health condition? Locked up at home for months, the question suddenly became central.
“We said to ourselves that we have to find new ways for the post-pandemic period,” Ms Parizeau told La Presse.
Two years later, a 15-credit microprogram was released.
Put simply, bioethics is the study of ethical problems caused by technological innovations in medicine and biology, explains Ms. Parizeau.
The discipline was born among philosophers and theologians (who study religion) at the turn of the 1970s.
Rare partnership
Bioethics programs already exist in Quebec. For example, the University of Montreal offers a master’s degree in bioethics. However, this multidisciplinary microprogram differs from it for two reasons.
First, the training includes an entire section on environmental ethics.
PHOTO SUPPLIED BY CORY-ANDREW LABRECQUE
Cory-Andrew Labrecque, Professor and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at Université Laval
One cannot talk about human health without talking about the health of the earth. In my opinion there is a pretty clear connection between these two disciplines.
Cory-Andrew Labrecque, Professor and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at Université Laval
These concerns are also becoming more and more important to students.
The microprogram is also the result of a – rare – partnership between the Faculty of Philosophy and the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies. “We wanted to make a connection to the origins of the discipline,” explains Mr. Labrecque.
The advantage? “The big questions of bioethics were already being asked in the major disciplines of philosophy and theology,” the professor replies.
Answers in Ancient Literature
Take the example of death. It has always haunted people. How do we relate to it now that we can counteract it with increasingly effective treatments? Or provoke it to alleviate suffering?
Possible answers can be found in ancient literature, believes Mr. Labrecque. The Art of Dying Well is a collection of Christian texts that addressed these questions more than…600 years ago!
Medical euthanasia, artificial intelligence, proportionality of care: “These are old questions, but in new contexts. Philosophy and theology have resources, traditions and ways of thinking,” adds Marie-Hélène Parizeau.
PHOTO ARCHIVE THE SUN
Marie-Hélène Parizeau, Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Laval
Sometimes they have converging points of view. Other times they diverge. Such is the case with abortion.
“These are dialogues that reflect our societies. Look at what’s happening in the United States. It’s incredible. This means that societal consensus can be broken and internal forces can overturn things we thought we had acquired,” notes Ms Parizeau.
“This is a good example of where we need to discuss things together to understand what’s happening,” she adds.
Open training for everyone
The aim of the micro-program is therefore to create a “deeper” education for students of philosophy and theology – but not only.
Ethics courses are already offered to students in the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Université Laval.
“There are always a few who want to go further,” says Marie-Hélène Parizeau.
The two professors, who both studied natural sciences prior to the course, insist: This education can only benefit these students.
“When I was a medical student, that’s what I wanted: courses in philosophy and courses in theology, because it’s a different vocabulary, a different way of looking at the world. And there is a wealth in that,” says Mr. Labrecque.