title: Metaphysical accounts of the zygote as a person and the veto power of facts.
abstract: That the soul of a human person is infused at conception is a metaphysical claim. But given its traditional articulation, it has the empirical consequence that the zygote must have a substantial continuity with the adult person, a continuity which is already determined at conception. This empirical consequence is contradicted by the fact that the zygote may become a hydatidiform mole, or several persons. The metaphysical claim is falsified by the facts.
authors.affiliation: Center for Ethics, Medicine, and Public Policy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030.
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Bole
mesh_terms: D033421:Beginning of Human Life; D002648:Child; D002651:Child Advocacy; D002657:Child Development; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D019369:Life; D008678:Metaphysics; D028723:Personhood; D012067:Religion; D028725:Theology; D038522:Twinning, Monozygotic; D015053:Zygote