ABSTRACT
Most moral philosophers agree that vulnerability is a part of human life. In many instances, the reference to vulnerability is meant to highlight human fragility, the embodiment we experience everyday as biological organisms, or the intrinsic dependency on others and on our bodies that marks human existence. Yet sometimes, vulnerability is thought of as a specific moral problem when talking about what we owe to individuals. The chapters in this book show why vulnerability as a descriptive, normative and moral concept plays a fundamental role in many disciplines of ethics and applied ethics. They explain why conceptualizing vulnerability as an action-guiding principle in political and moral philosophy and in ethics, as well as in bioethics and medical ethics, is important if all are to get their due in society.
