Life & the Sacred

Text in English & Spanish. One of the concepts which deserve particular attention by philosophers of the 21st century is that of life and, more specifically, that of human life. Religion has played the role of providing an answer to the limits with which life confronts itself, namely sickness and death. Religion offered traditionally the knowledge of salvation and provided the ultimate sense of life. Yet, in recent times, religion has been increasingly substituted by other instances in its care for human life. Thus, new questions arise: How far the state and the market can take responsibility for the meaning of human life and give adequate answers to the paradox that suffering and death keep on perplexing man? Can the state make use of technology and scientific knowledge in order to regulate population according to its objectives? Is there any ethical limit to the experimentation with the different phases of human life? Is it possible to preserve a sacral sphere for human life? This book presents an extensive reflection in order to find answers to all these perplexities.