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2.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
AT THE SERVICE OF THE HUMAN PERSON
God created man in his own image and likeness:
"male and female he created them" (Gen 1: 27 ), entrusting to
them the task of "having dominion over the earth" (Gen 1:28).
Basic scientific research and applied research constitute a significant
expression of this dominion of man over creation. Science and technology are
valuable resources for man when placed at his service and when they promote his
integral development for the benefit of all; but they cannot of themselves show
the meaning of existence and of human progress. Being ordered to man, who initiates
and develops them, they draw from the person and his moral values the
indication of their purpose and the awareness of their limits.
It would on the one hand be illusory to
claim that scientific research and its applications are morally neutral; on the
other hand one cannot derive criteria for guidance from mere technical
efficiency, from research's possible usefulness to some at the expense of
others, or, worse still, from prevailing ideologies. Thus science and
technology require, for their own intrinsic meaning, an unconditional respect
for the fundamental criteria of the moral law: that is to say, they must be at
the service of the human person, of his inalienable rights and his true and
integral good according to the design and will of God.(7) The rapid development of technological discoveries gives greater
urgency to this need to respect the criteria just mentioned: science without
conscience can only lead to man's ruin. "Our era needs such wisdom more
than bygone ages if the discoveries made by man are to be further humanized.
For the future of the world stands in peril unless wiser people are
forthcoming".(8)
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