A Thomistic Account Of Ethics Of Assisted Reproductive Technologies I Professor Matthew Dugandzic

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Christianity, Society & Culture, Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Catholic, Philosophy, Religion & Spirituality, Thomism, Catholicism

4.8 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2023

⏱️ 36 minutes

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Summary

Matthew Dugandzic joined the theology faculty at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in 2019 after completing a Ph.D. in moral theology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. His dissertation, "A Thomistic Account of the Habituation of the Passions," explored the ways in which people can develop virtuous affective inclinations. Dr. Dugandzic's scholarship focuses on medieval thought, especially Thomas Aquinas' anthropology, psychology, and ethics. His work on Christ's passions recently appeared in the European Journal for the Study of Thomas Aquinas and his other writings on the passions and on bioethics have appeared in New Blackfriars and National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly. His current research focuses on the sources that Aquinas used in developing his understanding of virtue and on recovering ancient and medieval wisdom regarding economics in order to apply this wisdom to contemporary financial problems (like student loan debt). Dr. Dugandzic has taught courses in fundamental moral theology, bioethics, theological anthropology, and Catholic social teaching. In addition to his work in the academy, Dr. Dugandzic has also brought his theological expertise to the aid of the Church, having taught theology to RCIA groups, catechists, and candidates for the permanent diaconate. In addition to his doctorate, Dr. Dugandzic holds a BSc in biology from Concordia University in Montréal, Québec and an MA in religious studies from St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, New York. He and his wife, Audra, live in Baltimore, MD. In his spare time, he likes to play hockey, which he enjoys almost as much as reading theology.

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0:26.6	So the talk is about assisted reproductive technologies.
0:32.6	That's the topic that I was asked to speak about.
0:35.6	Obviously, this is the TI, so I'm going to do it from a domestic perspective.
0:39.3	And of course, Aquinas didn't ever talk about individual fertilization or anything like that.
0:43.3	So what I'm going to do is give you some philosophical background based on Aquinas' philosophy that I think informs
0:52.3	current Catholic teaching on assisted reproductive technology,
0:57.0	but that also can be used to explain more deeply how to think about these sorts of issues.
1:05.0	So what I'm going to do is give you the philosophy, and then I'm going to focus on three issues in particular, apply it to those three,
1:12.6	and those are artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, and surrogacy.
1:18.6	And I think that what I've tried to do is set the talk up so that if the theoretical background is clear, then the positions that you should draw on those
1:31.9	particular issues becomes pretty clear. You don't actually have to do a lot of work to get at
1:37.1	those positions. It's just, it's readily apparent what you ought to think. So let's get into the
1:43.9	philosophy. Aquinas has, in my opinion,
1:49.8	an absolutely fantastic passage in his opus on what you might call the philosophy of reproduction.
1:57.4	It's about what it means to be sexed beings and what sort of responsibilities we have as beings
2:06.5	that reproduce sexually.
2:08.8	The passage starts in chapter 122 of book three of Aquinas' Summa Contra Gentiles.
2:17.0	It's probably not the Summa you're thinking of, which is the
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