The Metaphysics of Pregnancy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4079584 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Francesca Bellazzi (0000-0003-1334-6329, University of Oslo, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Publication date | 2025-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Philosophy Compass (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1747-9991 • E-ISSN: 1747-9991 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/phc3.70026 |
| OpenAlex | W4409593892 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 30 |
Pregnancy is a one of the most complex phenomena of life and is essential to the life cycle of mammals. Pregnancy is also a crucial aspect of humans' life and experience. But what is pregnancy? This question has received little attention in philosophy until recently, when it got picked up by metaphysicians and philosophers of science. However, the philosophical discussion is still in its infancy. This article provides a survey of the recent debate on the metaphysics of pregnancy. It explores the relation between the pregnant organism and the gestated one, motivating the further study of pregnancy from a philosophical perspective (§1, §2). It summarises the three main models of pregnancy present in the literature, the containment view (§3), the parthood view (§4) and the splitting process view (§5) with their advantages and shortcomings. Then, it explores a recent debate on whether pregnancy is a disease (§6). Lastly, it considers how one can decide between these models, for instance by favouring a given view of biological individuality over another (§7). The article concludes that none of the views is fully satisfactory, and thus inviting to continue the research on pregnancy from a metaphysical and philosophical perspective
Biology · Epistemology · Metaphysics · Obstetrics · Pregnancy · Ethics in medical practice · Feminist Epistemology and Gender Studies · Medicine · Philosophy · Psychology · Reproductive Health and Technologies
Everything Flows
Is pregnancy a disease? A normative approach
No, pregnancy is not a disease
Pregnancy and superior moral status
Neonatal incubator or artificial womb? Distinguishing ectogestation and ectogenesis using the metaphysics of pregnancy
Biological Individuality and the Foetus Problem
Are Organisms Substances or Processes
Biological Individuality, Pregnancy, and (Mammalian) Reproduction
How Many Organisms during a Pregnancy
One or two? A Process View of pregnancy
Pregnancy, Parthood and Proper Overlap
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |