Abstract

The contemporary emphasis on vulnerability and interdependence stresses the ethical necessity of a critical care concept to undermine the individualistic paradigm of autonomy and the modern understanding of well-being regarding individual self-achievement and world mastery. This paper analyzes how the philosophical investigation of vulnerability has led to an existential, social, and ethical reflection that brought to light a fundamental interdependence among living beings. This chapter examines the nature of this interdependence and the type of relations involved in these dynamics. The author argues that caring for the living involves a holistic approach of the human being that considers not only the plurality of her interpersonal relations but also her relation to the environment and her relation to her ‘self’ as a person with rights and responsibility. Moreover, speaking of interdependence also implies examining the philosophical understanding of our modern concepts of nature and culture along the lines of a philosophical critique of the immunity paradigm and cultural biology anew. Drawing on phenomenological ethics, this chapter shows that the concept of responsibility that stems from this renewed understanding of interdependence implies an ethics based on responsiveness and responsibility that articulates the dignity of human beings as persons with the care for the living they demonstrate in the ‘forms of life’ they inhabit with others. It bears consequences for contemporary issues in bioethics, such as caring for vulnerable people or determining the moral standing of our relations.