Life and the Sacred

Edited by Rafael Alvira and Carmelo Vigna.

15 contributions (six of them in Spanish, four in Italian, two in German, two in English and one in French language) address philosophical concepts of life, especially: human life, at the beginning of 21st century. They are structured by four thematic sections: Human Life; The Sacred; The Gift; Science, Law and Politics faced with human life. For centuries, religion has played the role of providing an answer to the limits with which life confronts itself. But religion has been increasingly substituted by other instances in its care for human life. Thus, new questions arise: How far can the state and the market take responsibility for the meaning of human life and give adequate answers to the paradox that suffering and death keep on perplexing man? Can the state make use of technology and scientific knowledge in order to regulate population according to its objectives? Is there any ethical limit to the experimentation with the different phases of human life? Is it possible to preserve a sacral sphere for human life? The book presents an extensive reflexion in order to find answers to all these perplexities. 238 Seiten, broschiert (Religion and Civil Society; Vol. 2/Olms Verlag 2012)