Kasnomoderna koncepcija moralnosti, kao i sam koncept ljudske osobe, dvoznačan je. S jedne strane suvremeno se poimanje osobe regulira atributima koji ističu osobnu autonomiju i distanciranost od sklonosti ranjivosti; s druge strane povećava se zanimanje za razumijevanje ranjivosti kao sve aktualnije teme. Ranjivost se pokušava razumjeti kao stanje koje čovjeka vraća njegovoj ljudskosti, odnosno sebi samom. Istodobno, u širem se kontekstu koristi kao termin za objašnjenje situacija, stanja ili koncepata koji čak i ne pripadaju poimanju ranjivosti, te se i etimološki razlikuju od samog pojma ranjivosti, poput primjerice grijeha, ljudske patnje ili stanja invalidnosti. Iako je ranjivost neizbježna, jer u čovjekov život ulazi bez njegova pristanka, suvremeni je etičko-moralni sustav s jedne strane poima kao protutežu autonomiji; a s druge strane, zbog toga što su je »iskusili« svi ljudi, često se ranjivost smatra nečim što je samo po sebi evidentno, sve dok se čovjek ne zapita što ona jest. Jer nije uvijek jasno što čovjekovo iskustvo ranjivosti uključuje ili što se razumije pod pojmom ranjivost.; The modern conception of morality, as well as, the concept of human person is twofold. On the one hand it is regulated by attributes that emphasizes personal autonomy regardless of human vulnerability; on the other hand, there is a growing interest towards understanding the notion of vulnerability as a contextual and conceptual issue. Vulnerability is tried to be understood as a state that returns a person to his humanity, that is, to himself. At the same time, in a broader context, it is used as a term to explain situations, conditions or concepts that do not even belong to the domain of vulnerability, and are etymologically different from the concept of vulnerability, such as sin, human suffering or disability. Despite all the efforts of the contemporary culture to eliminate it, vulnerability not merely counterbalances the notion of autonomy, but as an inevitable existential category enters our lives without our consent. Because everyone has »experienced« it, vulnerability is considered as a selfevident phenomenon until we are asked to define it. For this reason, it is not always clear what the experience of vulnerability involves or what we mean by the notion vulnerability.