Orders and Prohibitions for Sale? Moral Theology in the Age of Knowledge Commercialization

Abstract

Nowadays, there are very strong aspirations aiming to link science with economy. These aspirations create specific problems for humanities which do not generate products, technology and patents for sale, and thereby do not bring measurable benefits to industry and universities. Moral theology, whose essential task is to define norms, orders and prohibitions, may rather seem to restrain innovative economy than to be its driving force. However, moral theology provides practical indications which can give a more human character to the technological development. It is possible only when its relationship with business at the level of scientific research is as brief as possible, and the financing is completely independent from the market laws.