Whether life can arise from inorganic matter, or whether epigenetic processes open up spaces of indeterminacy, are questions that challenge biologists, philosophers, and theologians. Second week of interdisciplinary research: Determinism and indeterminism It offered a forum for dialogue among more than 30 academics from national and international universities. Below, we offer videos of the two plenary lectures that took place on August 4 and 5.

Miguel de Asúa holds doctorates in medicine (University of Buenos Aires) and history (University of Notre Dame) and is currently a professor at the University of San Martín. He opened the day's events with the lecture "Beyond Darwin." During his presentation, he addressed the potential dialogue between Darwinian theory and creation theology. "Are Darwin and the Bible mutually exclusive terms in a dilemma?" Miguel de Asúa explores the vicissitudes of the idea of ​​organic evolution in its relationship to Christianity.

On the other hand, Professor Rafael Vicuña, PhD in Molecular Biology from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (New York) and professor at the Catholic University of Chile, spoke about “The Origin of Life on Earth.” Most likely, Dr. Vicuña states, life arose through a series of increasingly complex stages, all of them adhering to the laws of physics and chemistry. We have no idea how this might have occurred, although surely in the future we will be able to offer a plausible and widely accepted hypothesis. Today there are too many, which reflects our current ignorance. In any case, such a hypothesis will not allow us to either rule out or confirm the existence of a creator. Moreover, we would be in the same situation even if we were to fully understand, from a material perspective, the workings of the universe and life.