November 13, 2012, San Ramon, CA — The Center for Bioethics and Culture and the Paul Ramsey Nominating Committee are pleased to announce Professor David Solomon, Ph.D. as the recipient of the 2013 Paul Ramsey Award for Excellence in Bioethics. Dr. Solomon is W.P. and H.B. White Director Emeritus of the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture and Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame.

Paul Ramsey Nominating Committee member Dr. Gilbert Meilaender said of Dr. Solomon:

Excellence in bioethics may be displayed in a variety of ways—through one’s writing, through one’s teaching, through development of institutions that bring ideas to a wider audience, through a firm public stand in support of the equal dignity of every human being. In each of these ways, as it happens, David Solomon has—always with good humor—made distinguished contributions to clarity and honesty in bioethics. He is surely a very deserving recipient of the 2013 Ramsey Award.

Upon learning that Dr. Solomon is to receive the Paul Ramsey Award, Professor O. Carter Snead, the William P. and Hazel B. White Director of the Center for Ethics and Culture and a close colleague of Dr. Solomon at Notre Dame, remarked:

In founding the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, David Solomon created and sustained an essential, indispensable institution dedicated to the pursuit of matters that lie at the heart of Notre Dame’s distinctive educational and religious mission.  We all owe him a debt of gratitude for his courage, his vision, and his friendship.

The Paul Ramsey dinner will be held Saturday, April 13, 2013 at the Diablo Country Club in Diablo, CA. Please save the date!

Who was Paul Ramsey?

Paul Ramsey is regarded by many as one of the most important ethicists of the twentieth century. He was a distinguished writer on bioethics a generation ago, and served as Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion, Princeton University. Ramsey shines as an almost lone beacon in the general darkness of academic bioethics, since his commitment to the sanctity and dignity of human life was paramount.

About The Paul Ramsey Award

The Paul Ramsey Award honors those who have made an outstanding contribution to the bioethics discussion and are actively engaged in society; facing the challenges of the 21st century, profoundly defending the dignity of humankind, and enthusiastically embracing ethical biotechnology for the human good. The Ramsey Award is given to those who have demonstrated exemplary achievement in the field of bioethics.

Previous Ramsey Award Recipients

  • 2004: Edmund D. Pellegrino
     
  • 2005: Germain Grisez
     
  • 2006: John M. Finnis
     
  • 2007: William E. May
     
  • 2008: Albert S. Moraczewski
     
  • 2009: Gilbert Meilaender
    “All of us, Ramsey would have said, whatever our particular vocations, are part of this community of discourse. All of us are called to think, as carefully and as thoroughly as we can, about these urgent human problems.”
    — from Dr. Meilaender’s remarks at the 2009 Ramsey Award Dinner
     
  • 2010: Leon Kass
    “The Ramsey Award has a very special meaning for me, for Paul Ramsey was my mentor and friend, and my first teacher in bioethics. More than anyone else, he was responsible for major changes in my moral outlook and my life’s work.”
    — from Dr. Kass’ remarks to the 2010 Ramsey Award Dinner
     
  • 2011: Luke Gormally
     
  • 2012: Mary Ann Glendon
    “As Paul Ramsey understood, the way a society handles such [bioethical] challenges has a transformative effect on the moral texture of our culture. Nations and persons, at any given moment, are continually being shaped, for better or worse, by our actions and decisions. Each time we make policy on abortion, euthanasia, and human experimentation, we are either helping to build a civilization that promotes human flourishing, or we are making the world more dangerous, especially for the weakest and most vulnerable.”
    — from Prof. Glendon’s remarks to the 2012 Ramsey Award Dinner
     

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