Published: 2025-12-31

The Notion of a Person at the Center of the Italian Bioethical Debate

Andrzej Waleszczyński , Martryna Filcek
Studia Philosophiae Christianae
Section: Papers
https://doi.org/10.21697/spch.2025.61.A.19

Abstract

This article presents a critical analysis of Andrzej Kobyliński’s monograph Osoba w centrum? Specyfika debaty bioetycznej we Włoszech [Person at the Center? The peculiarities of the bioethics debate in Italy] (2024). Its main purpose is to verify the author’s hypothesis about the specificity of the confrontation between secular and Catholic bioethics in Italy, where the central element of the dispute is the concept of the human being as a person and the understanding of human life at the first stage of development. The analysis carried out covers Kobylinski’s research methodology, the structure of the monograph and the fundamental anthropological differences between the analyzed paradigms. Special attention is given to the practical consequences of theoretical differences in the context of the Italian in vitro fertilization debate and the phenomenon of “devout atheists” as a specific voice in bioethical disputes. This article documents the transformation of the nature of the bioethical debate from a philosophical and ethical one to a legal one, described as the “juridization of the bioethical dispute.” This review highlights the value of the monograph as a systematic study that fills a gap in the Polish scientific literature on Italian bioethics, while pointing out areas that require further research, such as embryo adoption or the issue of conscientious objection in the context of a pluralistic society.

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Received: 24/07/2025. Reviewed: 28/09/2025. Accepted: 18/11/2025.

Keywords:

Italian bioethics, personalism, embryo, devout atheists, assisted procreation, conscientious objection, philosophical anthropology

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Waleszczyński, A., & Filcek, M. (2025). The Notion of a Person at the Center of the Italian Bioethical Debate. Studia Philosophiae Christianae, 61(2), 197–226. https://doi.org/10.21697/spch.2025.61.A.19

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