LOCATING Human Uniqueness with Mary Vanden Berg (ep. 42)

On this episode of the podcast, we talk with Dr. Mary Vanden Berg about her book Aquinas, Science, and Human Uniqueness: An Integrated Approach to What Makes Us Human. The conversation considers what makes humans unique in the face of a scientific culture (that tends to treat humans as mere animals) and technological advancement (that appears to reproduce intelligence artificially). Among the questions we discuss:

• Are humans nothing more than advanced animals?
• Is human intelligence of the same sort as the artificial intelligence we find in computers?
• Can we base human uniqueness in "intellect" without diminishing those cognitive disabilities?
• What does it mean to say that humans are a "body-soul complex"? Can we speak about a "soul" without diminishing the body?
• What is the practical or pastoral significance of discussing human uniqueness?

Get the book: https://wipfandstock.com/9781725267770/aquinas-science-and-human-uniqueness/

Included music on this episode is "Strange Machines" from the Ruralists album Trying. Find lyrics and more here: https://www.fullyruralized.com/