Vulnerabilità: significati e pratiche nella riflessione bioetica contemporanea. Introduzione.

The notion of vulnerability is the subject of investigation in different academic fields, spanning from medical ethics to public health, from political philosophy to theoretical philosophy. Despite their differences, what these disciplines share is the (etymological) definition of vulnerability as the increased susceptibility of being wronged or harmed, as well as the idea that vulnerability is both an intrinsic feature of human beings exposed to finitude, but also the consequence of (unfair) contingent situations.