“Epistemological relativism and religious dogma: two strange bedfellows in the struggle against freedom of science” Contemporary culture is much more ambivalent towards science than before, and sometimes openly hostile. This is exemplified by the rise of the Creationist movement, who is spreading far beyond its birthplace in the American Bible Belt, or the increasingly self-assured

Scientific freedom is today often understood in terms of the idea of a “right to research.” It is often unclear, however, how the right to research is best justified, and what the recognition of such a right entails for science and science policy in democratic societies. In this paper, I examine two basic approaches to

I am grateful to Marco for the invitation. I have found this meeting to be very, very interesting, as I have heard some of the best intellectual discourses all together in one time. So I am happy to be here. Particularly in response to some of the presentations held yesterday, I have really changed the

Discomfort with the intellectual freedom associated with the scientific method, and a continuing resistance to secular ideas, are characteristic of many Muslim countries today. In this talk I shall address some fundamental questions: To what extent are Islamic teachings responsible for the poor state of scientific research in these countries? What accounts for the Golden

The First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution guarantees the separation of church and state under a democratic government. This separation of religion and government protects both the education of children and the process of scientific inquiry. Two of the most important contributors to the founding of American democracy, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, were

Rapid progress in stem cell research has raised hopes in patients afflicted with serious diseases for possible new stem cell-based therapies. With the exception of hematopoietic stem cell transplants for leukemia and epithelial stem cell-based treatments for skin burns and corneal disorders, clinical translation for other diseases may still require many more years of pre-clinical

I really learnt a great deal from the talks I have been attending, and I feel a particularly strong connection with the topic of scientific freedom. This relates to the place where I work as a researcher, the IRCM, which was created by one of our leading Canadian physicians, Dr Jacques Genest, who is an

“Two Thesis: (a) The Consequences Of Basic Research In Science And Technology, (b) Proposals For Restrictions on Basic Research” The consequences of basic research in science and technology are sometimes all good, for example the discovery of the HIV virus as recognized in the 2008 Nobel prize in Medicine. A contrary example is the Wright

“Freedom of Research around the Globe: A Preliminary Study” Researchers around the globe share the common goal of increasing scientific knowledge. Yet, researchers and health care professionals operate in regulatory environments that often limit their freedom of research to degrees that vary from nation to nation. In this paper, we present the preliminary results of