This group consists of a multidisciplinary team focused in the field of Philosophy of Life Sciences and concerning three Research Areas (RA): Bioethics, Philosophy of Biology and History and Philosophy of Medicine.
Bioethics: This RA develops multidisciplinary research on Bioethics applied to Medicine, in particular the philosophical reasons, principles and ethical problems raised by palliative care. The main goal is to explore the multiple dimensions of the ethical debate around the question of suffering and the end of life. The philosophical foundations, principles and ethical problems, a comprehensive updated review on the management of pain, the main areas of the symptomatic control, communication, bereavement, family support, teamwork and multidisciplinary service organization, are some research topics of this RA. The work will be done by theoretical research, by offering advanced training and also through the support to be given to Master and PhD thesis. This RA will coordinate 3 Master courses at the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon in Bioethics, Palliative Care, and Pain Science.
Philosophy of Biology: Although techniques and methods of descriptive and experimental biology have evolved dramatically in recent years, generating a flood of highly detailed empirical data, the theoretical and conceptual integration of these results has lagged behind. Since Darwin, natural selection is seen as the primary cause of evolution. During the 20thcentury, Darwin's followers formalized natural selection mathematically and redefined it as differential survival and reproduction, entrenched as the universal cause of evolution. However, new approaches to evolution have arisen to fill the gaps in our understanding of some of the major questions still open to biology. Bringing bacteria and viruses into evolutionary framework has entailed vital changes to evolutionary theory. Biologists start realizing that there are other major driving forces capable of producing emergent novelties that cause evolution. We aim to explore the epistemological implications of these new evolutionary theories, especially the very concept of evolution. In particular, we will give special attention to symbiogenesis, how it originated, was structured and developed, to its epistemological proposals and consequences for neo-Darwinism assumptions and also for Darwin's tree of life. We will also continue to focus on the evolution of man, especially discussing relevant advancements in this area, from grooming to the emergence of symbolic thinking, encompassing studies of different methodological approaches and contributions.
History and Philosophy of Medicine: This Research Area concerns the philosophical, epistemological and ethical questions connected with biomedicine, in particular the issues related with the so-called "molecularization of medical practice". We take Personalized Medicine as a particularly relevant arena of study and debate, that must be approached in a multidisciplinary perspective, involving philosophers, clinicians, social scientists, bioethicists, biologists, etc. Having in view a clarification and critical analysis of what Personalized Medicine is intended to be, and how it is going to reconfigure medicine at the macro, meso, and micro levels (roughly corresponding to the conceptual, organizational and doctor-patient interaction levels), we work on traditional topics of philosophy of medicine, such as the definition of health and disease; normal and pathological. We also focus on questions concerning medical diagnosis and prevention, with particular attention to the problems posed by the current trend to conflate risk and disease in relation to medical intervention (analysis of the concepts of genetic susceptibility, risk factor, modifiable risk, risk assessment and risk prevention). Through our research we contribute to the ongoing debate over the medicalization of everyday life, on the one hand, and over medical justice, on the other.
Head: António Barbosa | abarbosa@netcabo.pt
Assistant Head: Silvia Di Marco | sdmarco@ciencias.ulisboa.pt
António Barbosa
António Barros Veloso
António Bracinha Vieira
Bárbara R. Ferreira
Clara Queiroz
Davide Vecchi
Diogo Telles Correia
Elena Casetta
Fernando Martins Vale
Filomena de Sousa
José Luís Pio Abreu
Luís Vicente
Maria Helena Abreu
Marina Vale
Marco Pina
Nuno Melim
Paulo Roberto
Ricardo Santos
Rui Lucas
Silvia Di Marco
Universidade de Lisboa
Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa
Evolução e Conhecimento Científico. Tradução de André Levy do excerto de D. J. Futuyma, "Scientific Knowledge", in Science on Trial, pp. 163-172, Sinauer, Sunderland, MA, EUA, 1995. In: Helena Abreu; Francisco Carrapiço; André Levy; Marco Pina (Eds.) (2009), Evolucão. Conceitos e Debates, Colecção Fundamentos e Desafios do Evolucionismo, Lisboa: Esfera do Caos, 219 pp.
O que é o Darwinismo? Tradução de André Levy e Helena Abreu do texto de E. Mayr, "What is Darwinism?", in Toward a New Philosophy of Biology: Observations of an Evolucionist, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1988. In: Helena Abreu; Francisco Carrapiço; André Levy; Marco Pina (Eds.) (2009), Evolucão. Conceitos e Debates, Colecção Fundamentos e Desafios do Evolucionismo, Lisboa: Esfera do Caos, 219 pp.