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Bioethics: Understanding the present and preparing for the future.
Recent Publications
A necessary review of Brazilian legal education: reflections on academic processes in the face of the reality of generative artificial intelligence.
Brazilian legal education faces the challenge of integrating generative artificial intelligence without abandoning critical thinking, ethics, and humanistic training. More than adopting tools, it must prepare jurists to understand, regulate, and question the technology already transforming law.
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May 1525 min read
Five beneficences for a post-biological era
Post-biological beneficence does not grant moral status to every machine. Instead, it proposes a bioethics capable of addressing non-biological systems that already shape human life, agency and vulnerability. From instrumental benefit to artificial relationships, critical infrastructures, autonomous agency and possible artificial welfare, bioethics must guide technology before harms become irreversible.
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May 1516 min read
Listening to Control? AI, Biosecurity, and the New Limits of Physiological Surveillance
When ordinary physiological signals, such as coughing, are analysed by AI, public health moves closer to security, surveillance, and institutional control. The bioethical question is no longer simply whether the technology works, but who is allowed to listen to the body, interpret its signals, and act upon them.
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May 139 min read
Neuroplasticity, Identity, Freedom: A Contemporary Neuroethical Perspective
A neuroplasticidade representa simultaneamente uma oportunidade terapêutica extraordinária e um desafio antropológico sem precedentes. O futuro da investigação neurocientífica dependerá da capacidade de articular inovação científica, responsabilidade moral e proteção da dignidade humana.
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May 1210 min read
Education and Ethical Training as an Instrument of Transformation
Num mundo que vive profundas mudanças culturais, sociais e tecnológicas, é urgente voltar a perguntar: para que educamos? A educação não é apenas transmissão de conhecimentos, mas formação integral da pessoa, fundada na dignidade humana. Educar é despertar consciências, orientar a liberdade para o bem e gerar uma cultura de paz.
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May 124 min read
Attack drones, autonomy and lethal decision-making: the Portuguese case and the ethical limits of technological warfare.
Loitering munitions make a decisive tension visible: technology can increase precision, but it can also distance the human agent from the moral decision to kill. The ethical question is not merely whether the weapon is effective or legal, but whether it preserves real human judgment, clear responsibility, and democratic limits on lethal force.
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May 118 min read
Medical AI, clinical decision-making, and patient autonomy: from assisted decision-making to algorithmic co-clinic.
Medical AI is no longer merely a support tool: it is beginning to become a third presence in the consultation. Between doctor, patient, and algorithmic co-clinician, autonomy requires more than consent. It requires understanding, contestation, alternatives, and human responsibility, so that the patient remains the author of the decision affecting their health, body, and future.
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May 910 min read
Health data, privacy, and consent: the autonomy lost when data starts circulating.
Health data are not merely information: they are sensitive fragments of the person. Their secondary use can improve research, public policy, and clinical innovation, but it requires privacy, understandable consent, fiduciary governance, and continuous transparency. Without post-consent autonomy, technical data protection may coexist with the ethical loss of the person.
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Apr 3011 min read
Brain–Computer Interfaces in Space Exploration: Technological Integration, Mission Advantages,and Ethical-Legal Implications
Brain–Computer Interfaces (BCIs) hold transformative potential for space exploration, offering solutions for astronaut performance, communication, and safety. This paper examines BCI integration in space missions, identifying gaps in empirical validation, philosophical and neuroethical analysis, and regulation
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Dec 31, 202519 min read
Of Foundation and Continuation
"O bem não se faz apenas com boas intenções. Fazer o bem é descobrir o que é verdadeiramente humano — não o que parece, mas o que permanece. A ética começa onde começa a pergunta: o que é ser pessoa?"
— Pe. Vasco Pinto de Magalhães, sj
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Jun 12, 20252 min read
Audiovisual Archive
Upcoming Events
Tue, Nov 25Nov 25, 2025, 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM GMT+0Lisbon, Bern Avenue 45A, 1067-001 Lisbon, PortugalThe 10th iCONE returns on November 25, 2025, at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, exploring agency and decision-making. Sponsored by CEB. || The 10th iCONE returns on November 25, 2025, at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, exploring agency and decision-making. Sponsored by CEB.
Mon, Jul 14Summer Course in Bioethics 2025 - Institute of Bioethics of the Catholic University of Portugal (UCP) /Faculty of Medicine of UCPJul 14, 2025, 2:00 PM GMT+1 – Jul 18, 2025, 6:00 PM GMT+1Faculty of Medicine of UCP, Octávio Pato Road, 2635-631 Rio de Mouro, PortugalThe Catholic University of Portugal, through its Institute of Bioethics, faithful to its mission of educating people, cultivating science and contributing to the common good, promotes the 2025 Summer Course in Bioethics as a space for critical reflection and interdisciplinary dialogue on major ethical challenges.
Thu, Jun 12
Fri, Jun 06Father Vasco Pinto de Magalhães - Rectorate of the University of Aveiro /Online and In-Person (University of Aveiro Rectorate)Jun 06, 2025, 2:30 PM – 5:00 PM GMT+1Online and In-Person (University of Aveiro Rectorate)✨ From Foundation to Continuation — with Father Vasco Pinto de Magalhães At EIBL 2025, we will have the privilege of hearing from one of the great names in spirituality and ethical thought in the Portuguese language. 📖 Jesuit priest, author, communicator and even rugby player — Vasco Pinto de Magalhães brings a vision
Fri, Jun 06Jun 06, 2025, 9:30 AM – 5:15 PM GMT+1University of Aveiro (Rectorate - Ed. 25), University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal📢 Meeting of Bioethics Researchers in Lusophony 🗓️ June 6, 2025 | 📍 University of Aveiro Join Portuguese-speaking researchers and experts 🌍 in Aveiro. Promoted by CEB - Center for Bioethics Studies.
Wed, Jun 04A Door of Hope for the Promotion and Defense of Human Dignity | Dignitas Infinita Cycle /University Institute of Justice and PeaceJun 04, 2025, 9:30 PM – 11:00 PM GMT+1University Institute of Justice and Peace, Coimbra, PortugalThis final seminar underscores the need for a collective, interinstitutional effort to make human dignity an effective priority in building a more just world. || This final seminar underscores the need for a collective, interinstitutional effort to make human dignity an effective priority in building a more just world.
Tue, May 06Gross Violations of Human Dignity | Dignitas Infinita Cycle /University Institute of Justice and Peace- Thu, Mar 20Fundamental Principles of Dignity | Dignitas Infinita Cycle /University Institute of Justice and Peace
Sat, Nov 23Annual Meeting of the Center for Bioethics Studies | 2024 /University Institute of Justice and PeaceNov 23, 2024, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM GMT+0University Institute of Justice and Peace, Coimbra, PortugalAnnual Meeting of the Center for Bioethics Studies | 2024 📅 November 23, 2024 🕙 10:00 am 📍 Instituto Justiça e Paz, Coimbra Join an event to reflect and inspire on the challenges that shape the present and future of the Center for Bioethics Studies in Portugal and the Lusophone world.
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