"The Iliac Passion" traces a return from the new but busy and rapidly growing discipline of "bioethics" to its source in "fundamental philosophical inquiry." The dilemma between bioethics and medicine is examined in two ways. First, the philosophical concept of the "big question" is presented. If we ask of life or of human experience "What does it all mean?", the "it" needs to be defined, and what I propose to do is to "take on" the "it." In Part Two, the task of combining the medical-technical objectifying mode of thinking about patients, necessary to treat them effectively, with the ability to understand and sympathize with their pain and distress, is illustrated by means of a personal story or parable.