Franciscan University of Steubenville Bioethics Conference

The Value of Human Life Conference
Institute of Bioethics

Friday, October 23, 2009 - Sunday, October 25, 2009 Some philosophers hold that only some human beings have full moral worth and that human beings at the earliest stages of their development are of no more worth than dogs or cats. Other thinkers hold that every human being, no matter what stage of his or her development, has a profound and equal inherent worth. Can that belief be defended by reason? Does human life have value in itself or is it merely of instrumental value? When does human life become valuable? On what basis do human beings have basic rights? When do human beings actually come to be? When do they cease to be?

These and related questions, which underlie many of the most heated controversies today including abortion and euthanasia, will be examined by philosophers and legal philosophers at the Value of Human Life Conference, October 23-25, 2009.

Hosted by the Institute of Bioethics at Franciscan University of Steubenville, the conference will be of special interest to philosophers, political scientists, legal philosophers, bioethicists, and philosophy and bioethics students—both undergraduate and graduate.

Click here to download a Registration Form.

The Value of Human Life Conference

Plenary Sessions

Friday, October 23, 2009

Francis Beckwith, Baylor University
“Human Dignity and Its Discontents”

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Patrick Lee, Franciscan University of Steubenville
“The Basis for Personal Dignity: Acquired Characteristic or Substantial Identity?”

Panel Discussion: Beckwith, Keown, Bradley

John Keown, Georgetown University
“Physicians’ Duties Regarding Palliative Care”

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Gerard Bradley, University of Notre Dame Law School
“Who Should Count as a Person in the Law?”

Plenary Session Speakers

Francis J. Beckwith is professor of philosophy and church-state studies, and resident scholar in the Institute for the Studies of Religion, Baylor University, where he teaches in the Departments of philosophy and political science, and in the J. M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies. He has authored or edited over a dozen books including To Everyone an Answer: A Case for the Christian Worldview (with W. L. Craig, J. P. Moreland, InterVarsity Press), Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air (with G. P. Koukl, Baker), and his 2007 monograph published by Cambridge University Press, Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice. In 2010 he will be publishing the book, Politics for Christians: Statecraft and Soulcraft (InterVarsity Press). He also has published nearly 100 articles, book chapters, and reference work entries.

Gerard V. Bradley, a noted scholar in the fields of constitutional law as well as law and religion, joined the faculty of the Notre Dame Law School as a professor in 1992, having taught at the University of Illinois from 1983 to 1992. He earned his BA from Cornell University in 1976 and his JD from the Cornell Law School in 1980. Admitted to the New York Bar in 1981, he practiced law as an assistant district attorney with the New York County District Attorney’s Office from 1980 to 1983. Professor Bradley participates in numerous professional organizations that involve the study of law and religion and related constitutional issues. With Professor John Finnis, he has served as director of Notre Dame’s Natural Law Institute and as co-editor of the institute’s American Journal of Jurisprudence since 1996. He is president of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, vice president of the American Public Philosophy Institute, member of the board of advisors of the Cardinal Newman Society, chair of the Federalist Society’s Religious Liberties Practice Group, member of the Ramsey Colloquium on Theological Issues, and member of the board of advisors of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists. Professor Bradley teaches in Notre Dame’s Trial Advocacy Program, long considered to be among the top-10 such programs in the country. He has also developed a legal-externship program and related ethics course in which students earn credit by assisting actual public defenders in representing indigent clients at the St. Joseph County (Indiana) Court, Trial and Misdemeanor Division.

John Keown, MA, DPhil, PhD, holds the Rose F. Kennedy Chair in Christian Ethics at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University. Having graduated in law from Cambridge, he took a doctorate at Oxford. After being called to the Bar, he taught the law and ethics of medicine at Cambridge, where he held Fellowships at Queens’ College and Churchill College. Professor Keown has published widely in his field. His books Abortion, Doctors and the Law, Euthanasia Examined, and Euthanasia, Ethics, and Public Policy have all been published by Cambridge University Press. His work has been cited by bodies including the U.S. Supreme Court and the House of Lords. His most recent paper has questioned the justice of America’s War for Independence.

Patrick Lee holds the John N. and Jamie D. McAleer Chair of Bioethics and is the director of the Institute of Bioethics at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He is known nationally as a keynote speaker and author on contemporary ethics, especially on controversies regarding human life and marriage. Lee began teaching philosophy at Franciscan University in 1992. In 2007, he was appointed to direct Franciscan University’s Institute of Bioethics, which hosts annual conferences on contemporary ethical issues for healthcare professionals and the general public. As director, Lee defends and articulates the Catholic Church’s position on human life issues through his writings, debates, and public speaking engagements. His expertise includes such hot-button bioethical issues as abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, euthanasia, sexual morality, and same-sex unions. He recently co-authored a book titled Body-Self Dualism in Contemporary Ethics and Politics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008) with Dr. Robert P. George of Princeton University. Dr. Lee has also written the book titled Abortion and Unborn Human Life (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America, 1996), as well as over 40 articles published in refereed journals and publications.

Conference Schedule Please note - All conference schedules are subject to change!

Please visit our downloadable forms page to obtain more important information about this conference.