About Bioethics: Philosophical and Theological Approaches

Policy in Bioethics develops when people can reach agreement. We make progress when we listen to each other. About Bioethics, as the first of a series, explains the different secular and theological approaches to Bioethics, seeking to identify strengths as well as weaknesses because it is the strengths that produce good policy. In each case the assumptions and structure of the moral reasoning adopted are explored including a reflection on the role of religion in a secular society and a constructive approach to teaching Bioethics. The other books in the series include Care of the Sick and Dying, Donating Human Organs and Tissue, Man and Woman He Made Them, Motherhood and Technology, and Protecting the Human Person. The latter is to cover a range of issues such as Experimentation on Human Beings, Capital Punishment, Torture, Identity and Catholic Facilities and Cooperation with Evil.

Associate Prof Nicholas Tonti Filippini BA (Hons),MA(Monash), PhD (Melb), FHERDSA, KCSG is Associate Dean and Head of Bioethics at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne. The Institute is associated with the John Paul II Institute in Rome and the Lateran University. It is registered as a higher education provider in Australia to provide graduate courses in Bioethics, Theology of Marriage and Family, and Religious Education. Professor Tonti Filippini is a philosopher who has specialised in bioethics for the past 30 years including having been Australia's first hospital ethicist and Director of Bioethics at St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne, 1982-1990. He is well known internationally and has published widely in Bioethics.