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. "These excellent volumes bring together a life-time of intellectually rigorous and faithfully Catholic work in Bioethics. As Australia's preeminent Christian scholar in the area, Tonti-Filippini has for a generation been one of the most outspoken and sane voices in public debates over abortion, genetic testing, the new reproductive technologies and end-of-life decisions. A 'must read' for any health professional, ethics student or educated layman interested in exploring these questions and emerging from the labyrinth wiser and more compassionate." The Most Reverend Anthony Fisher OP, Bishop of Parramatta "At St.Vincents Hospital, we discovered Nick by chance; a strange name at the end of a letter to a newspaper. A person to enter the rough and tumble of the new science of bioethics at the beginning of the 1980s. A formidable philosopher, an articulate debater, an outstanding administrator, a courageous defender of his religious beliefs, courteous to friends and foes alike and deeply committed to his family and to the many institutions for which he worked. His autobiography tells the tale of his accomplishments and his book on bioethics reveals the depth of his knowledge and experience. This is a publication for all seasons." Dr Joseph N. Santamaria, Former Director of Community Medicine, St Vincents Hospital, Fitzroy About the Author: 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.