At the heart of every science or subject that is taught, there is some degree of implicit or explicit anthropology. That vision of man has a profound impact on all the contents taught or researched. The question about the anthropological issue could be posed as: What idea of man lies behind what is taught or learnt? 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

At the heart of every subject taught and every research project there lies a specific epistemology, whether explicit or not. The epistemological issue takes the shape of two key questions: Is what I teach and research true? What is the aim and limit of my branch of science and my method? This reflection on truth and the nature of scientific knowledge affects contents and methodologies because it takes a stance on the issue of truth and the possibility of discerning it.

The question about good, or the ethical issue

The question about truth and man leads to the issue of how to act, both in scientific work and its technological applications and in the way in which each individual leads their life. At the heart of every subject there is an ethical issue that is more or less explicit. Such ethics are what highlight the goals of the branch of science taught and the technical, cultural, social or personal consequences that could stem from it.

The question about meaning

The issue of meaning may reach varying degrees of depth. If we approach this matter from a teaching perspective, it could be said that the issue of meaning spans from personal education, in order to prepare people to live fully and contribute to the good of the community, to giving meaning to work and facilitating the encounter with a living God. From a research perspective, it leads us to discover the role of the philosophical foundations, or theology, in the search for meaning in each branch of science, as well as in the search for unity of knowledge. It also reveals the degree to which a particular branch of science encourages human questions about the ultimate issues. University research must be geared toward studying the roots of the main issues of each era and proposing solutions, none of which can be achieved without addressing the question of God