The Metaphysics of Surrogacy

In David Boonin (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Philosophy and Public Policy. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG. pp. 649-659 (2018)
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Abstract

As with most other areas of reproduction, surrogacy is highly regulated. But the legislation and policies on surrogacy are written in such ways that make large (and possibly mistaken) assumptions about the metaphysical relationship between the mother and the fetus – whether the fetus is a part of, or contained by, the mother. It is the purpose of this chapter to highlight these assumptions, and to demonstrate the impact that alternative metaphysical views can have on our conceptualization of surrogacy. With that in mind, I recommend that our public policies on surrogacy be at least neutral or otherwise responsive to metaphysics rather than presupposing it, such that the regulation and legislation of surrogacy will be metaphysically informed.

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Suki Finn
Royal Holloway University of London

Citations of this work

One or two? A Process View of pregnancy.Anne Sophie Meincke - 2022 - Philosophical Studies 179 (5):1495-1521.
Methodology for the metaphysics of pregnancy.Suki Finn - 2021 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 11 (3):1-19.
Mereotopology of Pregnancy.Suki Finn - 2023 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 48 (3):283-298.

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References found in this work

Were You a Part of Your Mother?Elselijn Kingma - 2019 - Mind 128 (511):609-646.
Sixteen days.Barry Smith & Berit Brogaard - 2003 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 28 (1):45 – 78.
Is women's labor a commodity?Elizabeth S. Anderson - 1990 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 19 (1):71-92.
.Barry Smith - 2004 - Grupo de Acción Filosófica (Gaf), Buenos Aires.

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