Our research is shedding new light on the fascinating philosophical questions the state of pregnancy presents, for a real-world improvement in care for women and their babies.
Lecturer in Philosophy Dr Elselijn Kingma and colleague Professor Fiona Woollard, whose specialism is ethics and epistemology, are leading the Philosophy of Pregnancy, Birth and Early Motherhood project. The project was highly commended for the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Project of the Year at the Times Higher Education Awards in 2018.
Elselijn says:
“Pregnancy presents us with some interesting philosophical problems, such as what, during the pregnancy, is the nature of the relationship between the fetus and the mother; what is the relationship between the pregnant organism and the later baby; and when does one person or organism become two?”
The research team is developing the theory that the fetus can only be sensibly considered as part of the mother, or ‘maternal organism’. By fully appreciating the unique processes of pregnancy and birth, they are shedding light on how the medical profession could analyse medical and ethical questions differently, to benefit women during their antenatal care.
This story is one of many of our Research highlights articles, all of which demonstrate how the work that goes on right here at Southampton is impacting and improving the world around us.
Read the full article here to find out more about this research.
