Biological Individuality and the Foetus Problem

Will H Morgan

doi:10.1007/s10670-022-00556-4

Biological Individuality and the Foetus Problem

Will H Morgan

Department of Philosophy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

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Abstract

The Problem of Biological Individuality is the problem of how to count organisms. Whilst counting organisms such as human beings and dogs is often easy, the biological world is full of difficult cases such as colonial siphonophores and aspen tree groves. One of the main solutions to the Problem of Biological Individuality is the Physiological Approach. Drawing on an argument made by Eric Olson in the personal identity debate, I argue that the Physiological Approach currently faces a metaphysical problem which can be called the ‘Foetus Problem’. This paper illustrates how metaphysics can contribute to debates in the philosophy of biology.

Original language	English
Journal	Erkenntnis
Early online date	21 Jun 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-022-00556-4
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 21 Jun 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
I am grateful to Ellen Clarke, Alexander Geddes, Eric Olson, Maja Sidzińska, Paul Snowdon, Radivoj Stupar, andJavier Suárez for helpful comments and discussion on earlier drafts of the paper. This work was funded by the White Rose College of the Arts and Humanities, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme as part of the MetaScience project (grant no. 771509).

Funding Information:
This work was funded by the White Rose College of the Arts and Humanities, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme as part of the MetaScience project (grant no. 771509).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).

Keywords

Biological Individuality
Pregnancy
Parthood
Identity
Metaphysics
Philosophy of Biology

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10.1007/s10670-022-00556-4Licence: CC BY

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MetaScience: The Metaphysical Unity of Science
Tahko, T. (Principal Investigator), Seifert, V. A. (Researcher), Friend, T. T. (Researcher), Kimpton-Nye, S. (Researcher), Bellazzi, F. (Student), Franklin, A. (Other ) & Morgan, W. H. (Researcher)
1/09/18 → 31/08/23
Project: Research

Cite this

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abstract = "The Problem of Biological Individuality is the problem of how to count organisms. Whilst counting organisms such as human beings and dogs is often easy, the biological world is full of difficult cases such as colonial siphonophores and aspen tree groves. One of the main solutions to the Problem of Biological Individuality is the Physiological Approach. Drawing on an argument made by Eric Olson in the personal identity debate, I argue that the Physiological Approach currently faces a metaphysical problem which can be called the {\textquoteleft}Foetus Problem{\textquoteright}. This paper illustrates how metaphysics can contribute to debates in the philosophy of biology.",

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KW - Parthood

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Biological Individuality and the Foetus Problem

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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Projects

MetaScience: The Metaphysical Unity of Science

Cite this