How Many Organisms during a Pregnancy?

Mammalian placental pregnancy is a neglected problem case for theories of organismality. This example is closer to home than those typically discussed within philosophy of biology. I apply evolutionary and immunological accounts of organismality to the “counting question”: How many organisms are pre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophy of science 2020-12, Vol.87 (5), p.1049-1060
Main Author: Grose, Jonathan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biology
Counting
Immunology
Metaphysics
Philosophy
Philosophy of science
Placenta
Pregnancy
Recombination
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Summary:Mammalian placental pregnancy is a neglected problem case for theories of organismality. This example is closer to home than those typically discussed within philosophy of biology. I apply evolutionary and immunological accounts of organismality to the “counting question”: How many organisms are present during a placental pregnancy? I conclude that an evolutionary approach yields the answer two, because of bottlenecking, germ-soma sequestration, and sexual recombination. By contrast, an immunological approach answers one, because of pervasive interactions across the placenta. This analysis expands and refines recent work on a biologically informed metaphysics of pregnancy, an undertheorized area of philosophy of science.
ISSN:0031-8248
1539-767X
DOI:10.1086/710542