Can A Biologist Believe In The Existence Of Life? | Professor Stephen Meredith

The Thomistic Institute

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

4.8 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 6 July 2023

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This lecture was given on March 8th, 2023 at Vanderbilt University. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events Speaker Bio: Stephen Meredith is a professor at the University of Chicago’s Departments of Pathology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Neurology. He is also an associate faculty member in the University of Chicago Divinity School. He has published more than 100 journal articles, focusing on the biophysics of protein structure. Much of his work has been the application of solution and solid-state NMR to the study of amyloid proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease. He has also published articles on literature and philosophy in diverse aspects of medical humanities and bioethics. His teaching includes courses to graduate students in biochemistry and biophysics, medical students, and undergraduates and graduate students in the humanities, including courses on James Joyce’s Ulysses, St. Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Dostoevsky (focusing on Brothers Karamazov), Thomas Mann and David Foster Wallace. He is currently working on a book examining disease and the theological problem of evil. Other current writing projects include a study of James Joyce and the problem of evil.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Are you in college? The Tomistic Institute Study Abroad Program is now accepting applications
0:05.7	for the spring semester of 2024. This unique and exciting study abroad program offers you
0:12.6	the opportunity to spend a semester in Rome at the Dominican Order's Pontifical University of
0:18.9	St. Thomas Aquinas. You'll study the ancient and medieval
0:22.4	intellectual tradition of Rome, live with like-minded young men and women steps from the Coliseum,
0:28.4	and participate in weekly cultural and intellectual events, regular day trips, and multi-day excursions.
0:35.6	To learn more about this life-changing opportunity, go to
0:39.2	to mysticinstitute.org slash Rome. That's tomisticinstitute.org slash Rome.
0:48.7	Welcome to the Tomistic Institute podcast. Our mission is to promote the Catholic intellectual
0:54.0	tradition in the university,
0:55.6	the church, and the wider public square. The lectures on this podcast are organized by university
1:00.8	students at Temistic Institute chapters around the world. To learn more and to attend these events,
1:06.6	visit us at to mysticinstitute.org.
1:14.1	So thank you very much, Hannah, for the invitation,
1:19.2	for the kind introduction, and thanks to the Thomistic Institute.
1:25.0	If you have trouble hearing me, my voice is a little on the weak side,
1:31.9	but please, you know, throw something at me. So when I teach pathology, biochemistry, biological sciences, if you spend any time trying to define things like
1:41.5	health and disease or life or anything like that, what you get is
1:45.8	a lot of eye rolling. I think students consider such exercises to be boring and silly. Now, this is
1:55.5	in contrast to teaching the humanities, which I also do.
2:07.1	And there are a lot of time, for example, is spent on defining what is a text.
2:08.1	Okay?
	...

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