Ramanell Center.

The Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care, established at the University at Buffalo in 1994, is now the Romanell Center for Clinical Ethics and the Philosophy of Medicine. The name change honors the 2003 testimentary gift bestowed by Edna Romanell, while reflecting a focus on bioethics in today's complex health care concerns. As a multi-disciplinary center with a long tradition of coordinating academic activities, the Center is poised to expand collaborative research and experience-based learning at UB to better serve the communities of Western New York, Southern Ontario, and borders beyond our own.

2022 Romanell Center Bioethics Workshop

Bioethics .

Join us for the Romanell Center Bioethics Workshop, Saturday, May 28, Park Hall 141, 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on UB North Campus. The workshop features presentations by Romanell Fellows and a keynote by Alex Pruss (Baylor University) on the topic: Natural Law, Vagueness, and Bioethics.

SATURDAY WORKSHOP PROGRAM (subject to change)
 May 28, 2022
Park Hall 141,  9:30am to 6:15pm

9:30–10:30 Catherine Nolan (Romanell Center Fellow/Belmont Abbey) “Aristotle's Understanding of the Sexes”

10:30-10:45 Break

10:45-11:45. David Hershenov: (Romanell Fellow/UB) “An Alternative to the Rational Substance Pro-Life View”

11:45-1:45 Lunch. Santora’s Grill.

1:45-2:45 Pat Daly (Boston College Lonergan Institute). “Health and Normativity”

2:45-3:00 Break

3:00-4:00. Steve Kershnar (Romanell Fellow/SUNY Fredonia) "Right Supremacy: How Rights Relate to Desert, Dignity, Duties, Equality, and Intention."

4:00-4:15 Break

4:15-6:15 Keynote Lecture. Alex Pruss. (Baylor University) Topic: Natural Law, Vagueness, and Bioethics

Contact David Hershenov at dh25@buffalo.edu for advance copies of the workshop papers.

READ THE ROMANELL FELLOWS DISCUSSION BLOG

SPRING EVENTS

SPRING EVENTS .

WORKSHOP KEYNOTES
 141 Park Hall, 4:00-6:00 pm

Saturday, April 30, 2022
Workshop Keynoter: Melissa Moschella, Associate Professor, Catholic University of America

Saturday, May 28, 2022
Workshop Keynoter: Alex Pruss, Professor of Philosophy, Baylor University

Saturday, June 25, 2022
Keynoter: Jennifer Blumenthal-Barby, Cullen Professor of Medical Ethics, Associate Director of the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Baylor College of Medicine.

2022 PUBLICATION

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2022 PUBLICATION

Why Machines Will Never Rule The World — Artificial Intelligence Without Fear .
Routledge to publish book by Barry Smith

Barry Smith and Jobst Landgrebe are co-authors of Why Machines Will Never Rule The World — Artificial Intelligence Without Fear (Routledge 2022) The three questions central to this book are:
– What are the essential marks of human intelligence?
– What is it that researchers are trying to do when they talk of achieving ‘Artificial Intelligence’ (AI)?
– To what extent can AI be achieved?

The core argument is that an artificial intelligence with powers of a sort that would equal or exceed human intelligence is for mathematical reasons impossible. The reasons are that

1. intelligence of this sort is a capability of a complex dynamic system (your brain), and such systems cannot be modelled mathematically in a way that yields exact predictions;

2. but only what can be modeled mathematically in this way can be engineered to operate inside a computer.

There is a great deal which AI can achieve that will be of benefit to mankind; but it does not include the work that a human intelligence can do; it does not include AI systems more powerful than humans; and it does not include AI systems which are ‘evil’ in any sense of this word.

One consequence of our argument is that much of what is discussed in the wider world concerning the potential of AI to bring about radical changes in the very nature of human beings and of the human social order is founded on an unfortunate error.

People

  • Harvey Berman
    7/27/17
    Harvey Berman is a pharmacologist responsible for teaching Doctors of Pharmacy (PharmD) and of Medicine (MD) in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. His teaching and research interests are in adverse drug interactions, pharmacogenomics, ethics of drug clinical trials, pain palliation and geriatric pharmacology.
  • David Hershenov, Co-Director
    3/18/21
    David Hershenov, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at the University at Buffalo and co-director of the Romanell Center. His earlier research was focused upon issues at the intersection of personal identity and bioethics. His recent research interests are in the philosophy of medicine.
  • Catherine Nolan
    6/14/21
    Catherine Nolan is currently working on issues in the intersection of metaphysics and bioethics. She is particularly interested in applying the concepts and arguments of the Christian metaphysical tradition to contemporary problems.  Her dissertation, entitled “The Ethics and Metaphysics of Vital Organ Donation,” was a defense of the claim that death is a metaphysical event, unable to be determined purely scientifically. This makes the diagnosis of death much more uncertain. If we attempt to justify vital organ donation by claiming that the donor is dead, we are often being misleading or dishonest. Instead, she suggests that we should focus on not killing the donor, treating those who may be dead as though they are still alive. 
  • Barry Smith
    3/18/21
    As an undergraduate, Barry Smith studied mathematics and philosophy at the University of Oxford, before earning his Ph.D. from the University of Manchester in 1976. Currently, he holds the position of Julian Park Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Computer Science, and Neurology at the University of Buffalo in New York.
  • Jack Freer, Co-Director
    12/1/20
    Jack Freer M.D. is a clinical professor, emeritus, and the co-director of the Romanell Center. He was the course director of IDM 701 (the required medical students' clinical ethics course) for 30 years. DUring that time, Freer has organized the Romanell Clinical and Research Ethics Seminars, as well as many other conferences and lecture series over the course of his career.
  • Timothy J. Madigan
    4/2/20
    Timothy J. Madigan, Ph.D, is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York, and the founder of its Irish Studies Program. Madigan’s areas of interest include Medical Ethics, Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, and Popular Culture and Philosophy. He is the President of the Bertrand Russell Society and the former President of the Northeast Popular Culture Association. Madigan was the first editor of the Romanell Center’s “Bioethics Bulletin.”  
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KEYLIGHT.
Jack Freer, Artist

Since retiring from clinical medicine, Jack Freer has been spending more time working on pastel painting. This image depicts a scene in Florence during a 1629-31 outbreak of bubonic plague.

SHOWCASE

Interdisciplinary Activities

Interdisciplinary Activities.

"Where the World Finds Bioethics"  bioethics.net  

JOB POSTINGS

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We invite you to join the Romanell Center ListServe to receive timely announcements about our events, zoom lectures, conferences, workshops, blog updates, upcoming activities, and much more. To join our ListServ, please send your name, affiliation (if any), and your email address to:  Ali Hasanzadeh, ahasanza@buffalo.edu