Expanded Reason Awards
Expanded Reason Awards
Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, in collaboration with the Vatican Foundation Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI, is announcing the seventh edition of the Expanded Reasons Awards, the aim of which is to recognise and promote university work that serves the truth and aspires to the advancement of man and of society.
The award recipients are university professors and researchers working in any area of knowledge, who have obtained results in the research or teaching field through scientific papers or academic programmes featuring an expanded reason approach.
I. Introduction
According to Benedict XVI, expanded reason is defined as a way of conceiving and using reason that seeks to comprehend the full breadth of reality through a dialogue between science, philosophy and theology.
This perspective emphasises the contributions made by the different branches of science, each with their own learning methods, to knowledge as a whole. In turn, it aims to transcend the limits of each particular type of science through a broader understanding: one prompted by questions about truth, the individual, good and meaning.
To expand reason is to open it up to these four existential questions raised in philosophy and theology, through a profound appreciation for science.
It is about creating a dialogue between different disciplines “with the utmost respect for their individual methods and mutual independence, but also aware of their intrinsic unity” [1].
In contrast to reductionism of any kind (empiricism, utilitarianism, fideism, etc.), this vision advocates expanding reason to all aspects of reality, to all forms of knowledge, and to all dimensions of the individual, which also requires creating a space for the possibility of “an encounter of faith and reason, between genuine enlightenment and religion”.
Therefore, this entails engaging the entire person: reason and faith, science and conscience, intelligence and heart.
And in contrast to the fragmentation of knowledge and hyper-specialisation, it encourages the search for a harmonious mixture of types of knowledge. “We want to move beyond the compartmentalisation and positivism that has prevailed in university lecture halls in recent decades, to propose, from a new perspective, a vision of our disciplines that encompasses humanity, surpassing the limits of each branch of science in an endless search for meaning and wholeness” [3].
[1] Benedict XVI, Address to the Participants of the Fourth National Ecclesial Convention of Italy, 19 October 2006.
[2] Ibid., Address at the University of Regensburg: Faith, Reason and the University. Memories and Reflections, 12 September 2006.
[3] María Lacalle Noriega, En busca de la unidad del saber. Una propuesta para renovar las disciplinas académicas, revised, expanded, bilingual 2nd edition, Madrid: Editorial UFV, 2018, p. 9.
The Expanded Reason Awards and the Vatican Foundation Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI
The aim of the Vatican Foundation Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI is to promote the study of Theology and dialogue between Theology and culture in today’s society. To this end, it has a grant programme for PhD students in theology and organises Conferences of great cultural and scientific value in collaboration with a number of universities around the world.
The awards bestowed include the Ratzinger Prize, which rewards work by men and women —whether Catholic or not— who, through a life of scholarship, have devoted themselves fully to the Gospel, making it comprehensible for their contemporaries.
In conjunction with Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, it promotes and collaborates in the Expanded Reason Awards, which acknowledge professors’ and researchers’ efforts to expand the horizons of rationality based on a dialogue between science and disciplines and philosophy and theology.
II. Aim
To embody this vision in university endeavours, the Expanded Reason Awards honour work on any subject matter that creates a dialogue between a particular branch of science and philosophy and/or theology. The aim is to push each particular branch of science to the limit and to pose fundamental questions that science itself cannot answer:
- The question about the individual, or the anthropological issue
This question could be posed as: What is the underlying idea of man in my discipline? Individualistic or supportive? Purely historical or open to transcendence? Genetically determined or capable of freedom? What type of man is constructed with this type of knowledge? And what type of society? - The question about truth, or the epistemological issue
This issue could be expressed through the following key questions: Is what I teach and research true? What is the aim and limit of my branch of science and my method? What questions take me to the limits of my branch of science, which I cannot answer through it? - The question about good, or the ethical issue
Questions about man and truth lead to the issue of how to act, in our scientific work and its technological applications, as well as in the way in which we lead own lives. The ethical issue always refers to the aims of each branch of science and its consequences. - The question about meaning
In the heart of every professor and student there lies a need for meaning, both in their university endeavours and in ultimate matters.
There are two award categories:
- Research category
This includes published or unpublished articles and books that scientifically address a certain issue through an expanded reason approach. The works submitted must be no more than five years old. - Teaching category
This includes university-level academic programmes (syllabuses, teaching guides, curricula, methodological proposals, etc.) and initiatives that promote a person’s comprehensive education in a certain science and thoroughly explain how the expanded reason questions fit in.
Participants and areas of knowledge
University professors and researchers of any nationality, individually or as a team, are eligible to apply for these awards (teams must specify the name of the coordinator or principal investigator).
Academic institutions and research institutes may also participate. When registering, it must be specified that the institution itself is submitting the entry, even if the application is submitted by the researchers.
If an award is granted to a team, it shall be distributed proportionally amongst the team members. If it is an entity, the entity shall be paid directly.
The awards are open to any area of knowledge: arts and humanities, experimental science, health science, social and legal science, engineering and architecture.
III. Awards
Four awards, for 25,000 euros each, will be granted across the two categories [4].
The winners agree to participate in the award ceremony, preceded by a seminar for UFV professors, where they will explain the main conclusions of their work. These two events will be held on consecutive days. The Institute will bear the travel and accommodation expenses.
The recipients will also have the opportunity to join the Expanded Reason Institute’s network of partners and to participate in its activities.
If the award is bestowed on a collaborative project, the coordinator or principal investigator will be in charge of representing the group.
If deemed appropriate by the jury, certain projects may be granted an honourable mention, and their authors will be invited to take part in the seminar and in the award ceremony, including travel and accommodation expenses.
[4] The award sums are subject to applicable withholdings in accordance with tax regulations.
IV. Submitting work
Work must be submitted by using the form posted on the website razonabierta.org.
The following documents must be submitted in English or Spanish:
- Abstract. No more than 500 words.
- Explanatory document. This document must serve as a guide for reading the paper submitted, and must clearly outline why the paper is deemed applicable to expanded reason and how it takes the anthropological, epistemological, ethical and meaning issues into account. This document shall be particularly relevant for the jury in assessing the pertinence of the paper in relation to the aim of this competition. The text, which may have 3,000 to 8,000 words, must follow the Editorial UFV style guide.
- Curriculum vitae of the author or authors, free format.
- Work eligible for the award. May be submitted in Spanish, English, Italian and French. The format is free. Papers already published after 2019 are accepted.
V. Deadlines
Papers may be submitted until 21 March 2025.
In July 2025, the jury’s decision will be published on the razonabierta.org website
VI. Merits considered by the jury
In the Research category, the following will be assessed in particular:
- The quality and accuracy of the knowledge about the specific science and the methodology inherent to the discipline.
- The timeliness and scientific, cultural and social relevance of the subject, as well as its originality.
- The inclusive approach.
- The depth of the dialogue created between the specific science and philosophy and/or theology.
- The soundness of the basis for the anthropological, epistemological, ethical and meaning issues.
- The timeliness and quality of the bibliography.
- The wording of the explanatory text, following the criteria in Point IV herein above.
In the Teaching category, the following will be assessed in particular:
- The quality, timeliness and accuracy of the knowledge about the specific science.
- The inclusive approach.
- The soundness of the basis for the anthropological, epistemological, ethical and meaning issues.
- The timeliness and quality of the bibliography.
- The clarity of the underlying approach and the pedagogical appropriateness.
The originality of the proposed learning methodologies.
The evidence of the impact on the overall education of the students. For this purpose, the projects must include some kind of method for measuring outcomes.
VII. Jury
The jury will be composed of internationally renowned professors and researchers appointed by Universidad Francisco de Vitoria and approved by the Foundation Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI. The president of the Vatican Foundation Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI and the rector of Universidad Francisco de Vitoria shall co-chair the jury.
The jury shall decide by a majority of the votes cast.
The awards may be declared null and void if the jury decides that the proposals received do not meet the quality requirements.
All the applicants expressly waive any right to challenge the jury’s decision.
These conditions may be modified at any time without prior notice.