Were you a part of your mother?
Were you a part of your mother?
Is the mammalian embryo/fetus a part of the organism that gestates it? According to the containment view, the fetus is not a part of, but merely contained within or surrounded by, the gestating organism. According to the parthood view, the fetus is a part of the gestating organism. This paper proceeds in two stages. First, I argue that the containment view is the received view; that it is generally assumed without good reason; and that it needs substantial support if it is to be taken seriously. Second, I argue that the parthood view derives considerable support from a range of biological and physiological considerations. I tentatively conclude in favour of the parthood view, and end by identifying some of the interesting further questions it raises.
Metaphysics, Pregnancy
609–646
Kingma, Elselijn
24f1e065-3004-452c-868d-9aee3087bf63
July 2019
Kingma, Elselijn
24f1e065-3004-452c-868d-9aee3087bf63
Abstract
Is the mammalian embryo/fetus a part of the organism that gestates it? According to the containment view, the fetus is not a part of, but merely contained within or surrounded by, the gestating organism. According to the parthood view, the fetus is a part of the gestating organism. This paper proceeds in two stages. First, I argue that the containment view is the received view; that it is generally assumed without good reason; and that it needs substantial support if it is to be taken seriously. Second, I argue that the parthood view derives considerable support from a range of biological and physiological considerations. I tentatively conclude in favour of the parthood view, and end by identifying some of the interesting further questions it raises.
Text
Postprint MIND Part of your Mother
- Accepted Manuscript
Text
Postprint - MIND - Part of your Mother
Restricted to Repository staff only
Request a copy
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 18 December 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 10 July 2019
Published date: July 2019
Keywords:
Metaphysics, Pregnancy
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 427045
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/427045
ISSN: 0026-4423
PURE UUID: b59ea903-44b9-4832-9925-a4cfcb8db8a5
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 20 Dec 2018 17:31
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 06:24
Export record
Altmetrics
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics