Bioethics and actual perspectives on the Self

This is a course I created at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, spring session, May-June. The course is an interdisciplnary approach to the Self confronting perspectives from Neurobiology, Philosophy, Phenomenology, Sociology and Religion in an attempt to formulate a synthesis of the Self compatible with both psychology and deontology centered bioethics.

We studied the problematics of Self and Identity as argued and defended by Charles Taylor, Emmanuel Levinas, Paul Ricoeur, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Antonio Damasio, Shaun Gallagher, Evan Thompson and Edgar Morin. Students were from different backgrounds, Philosophy, Ethics and Theology
Each of the students had a unique and a very rich life experience which she or he were able to rely on in her, his understanding of the issue and this has made the course all the more interesting.
It was an intellectual challenge both for me and for the students. I learned from them as much as they have learned from me. My thanks to them and their enthusiasm in collaborating to make the session intense and lively. This was a wonderful time we spent together explaining, clarifying, confronting and challenging ideas on the Self and on what makes us moral beings.