The quest for Mediterranean bioethics.

This thematic issue of the Journal of Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy is dedicated to the Mediterranean bioethics or as the title says to the quest for it. Recently, I came across an article written by a Croatian moral theologian and bioethicist Tonči Matulić entitled ‘‘Researching the Roots of Mediterranean Bioethicsthe Ethics of Virtue and Happiness as a condition sine qua non’’ (Matulić 2007). This article tried to answer the following questions: Is there such a thing as regional Mediterranean bioethics at all and what are its foundations? Who are proponents of this approach? What is the relationship between Mediterranean bioethics and other regional approaches to bioethics that come from the same cultural background that of a western cultural circle but who differ methodologically and epistemologically from the Mediterranean bioethics? What are specific historical roots of Mediterranean bioethics and their relationship in connection to the human being and society? Is there something to be drawn from the Mediterranean bioethics that can bring a novelty to today’s development of our scientifically and technically oriented societies? Matulić in his paper gives the following answers to the previously posed questions: The idea of Mediterranean bioethics was born in Spain in Madrid. The first one to mention this term was Diego Gracia Guillén (1989). His idea of Mediterranean bioethics is connected to his radical critique of mainly Anglo-Saxon bioethical approaches. The proponents of the idea of Mediterranean bioethics are those institutions (academic or scientific) and those bioethicists who come from Mediterranean cultural circle and who are by their mode of education dedicated to the values of Mediterranean traditions and the way of life, views on health and healing, ethics of virtue, sanctity and quality of life, transcendence and spirituality. The idea of Mediterranean bioethics is from its beginning extremely critical towards any radical confrontations with other cultural models within the field of bioethics. The idea of Mediterranean bioethics aims to promote a dialog and pave the way towards logical and value-oriented bonding between classical tradition of virtue ethics and modern deontological approaches encompassing in its discussions important elements of critical historical evaluation of both approaches. Ethics plays a central role in the idea of Mediterranean bioethics based on the virtue of friendships as the foundation of any quality interpersonal relationship. Such approach of interpersonal relationship is not based on procedures and contracts but on the trust that we have for each other as human beings. Matulić then concludes that although Mediterranean bioethics is still in development it can offer constructive solutions to the reign of ethical relativism especially in the area of the ethos of citizens. It can also be used as a tool against the rule of ideology of technicism. Finally it can be especially important for the clinical medical practice (Matulić 2007). Although, this article was written in 2007 some of its conclusions especially those connected to the ideas of different approaches to the societal ethics lately became important for the Mediterranean region, especially the Middle Eastern and African part. Recently, we have been witnesses of extreme societal changes in these parts of Mediterranean region which will have a huge impact on the world as we know it. This issues starts with the article written by Pierre Malia from Malta (a country in the heart of Mediterranean). It is a sort of introduction into the issue of Mediterranean A. Borovecki (&) Anadrija Stampar School of Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Rockefellerova 4, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia e-mail: [email protected]