02/07/2026 09:00 - 12:20

HALL: Pola - AT14

Contact: Pirozzi D.

Chair: Bongiovanni A., Pirozzi D.

Scientific inquiry provides indispensable explanations of natural phenomena. Yet, the resolution of controversial questions concerning the ecological responsibility and the sustainability of human practices inevitably involve ethical judgments exceeding the explanatory scope of the natural sciences. However, ethical discernment requires a broad epistemological horizon to integrate empirical knowledge, moral reasoning, and theological reflection, as well as an openness to the moral wisdom embedded in diverse religious and cultural traditions.
In this context, Laudato si' reimagines the Catholic theology through its proposal of an "integral ecology", an approach that integrates ecological, social, cultural, and spiritual dimensions, and its recognition of the Earth not merely as an object of use but as a subject of moral and religious significance. Creation is understood as gift and as sign, calling for an ethic grounded in responsibility and care. This vision can be fruitfully placed in dialogue with the ethical-moral sensitivities of other religious traditions, many of which concern the sacredness of nature and the virtues of humility, stewardship, and compassion toward all forms of life. This vision nonetheless requires further theoretical and methodological development, especially with reference to concrete ethical decision-making in contested environmental contexts.
This panel proposes to foster interdisciplinary and interreligious dialogue by integrating several approaches within contemporary environmental ethics, while also acknowledging the contributions of non-Christian religious traditions to the ethical imagination surrounding ecological responsibility. The panel aims to promote an ethically robust and practically discerning approach to environmental responsibility, to address the complexity of contemporary sustainability challenges by retrieving the contemplative and ethical dimensions of the human relationship with the created world.