title: A zygote could be a human: a defence of conceptionism against fission arguments.
abstract: In this paper I defend the view that a zygote is a human from the fission objection that is widely thought to be decisive against the view. I do so, drawing upon a recent discussion of this issue by John Burgess, by explaining in detail the metaphysical position the proponent of the view should adopt in order to rebut the objection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy, University of Nottingham, UK. ben.curtis@nottingham.ac.uk
authors.forename: Benjamin L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Curtis
mesh_terms: D033421:Beginning of Human Life; D033041:Embryo Research / Q000941:ethics*; D006801:Humans; D008678:Metaphysics; D038522:Twinning, Monozygotic; D015053:Zygote